PREDICTABILITY AS A TOOL FOR GREENWASHING: HOW HABITS FOSTER PEOPLE MISLEADING

The possibility of predictability has long been debated in philosophy, with some thinkers arguing that life is fundamentally chaotic and driven by chance. David Hume challenged the idea that causation exists, pointing out that it is constructed by humans based on their past experiences and habits. However, while causation itself may be uncertain, habits formed through repeated experiences allow individuals to develop reliable expectations about future events. Apart from being an indispensable mechanism of human behavior that facilitates routine activities and helps to conserve cognitive efforts, habits are robust enough to allow us to build expectations on the most probable conduct in given circumstances. This predictability makes them vulnerable to external influence, particularly in the form of greenwashing. Producers, in the broadest sense of this term, exploit habitual patterns like associating green color or nature imagery with sustainability, brand loyalty, green-friendly status-seeking, habitual guilt, or the tendency to rely on intuitive judgments rather than critical analysis. These strategies led people to false perceptions of environmental responsibility. Thus, habits can be systematically utilized to mislead individuals and contribute to the success of greenwashing. The aim of this thesis is to examine the role of habits in greenwashing by analyzing three interrelated aspects: predictability, the nature of habit, and mechanisms of greenwashing. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the study explores major philosophical conceptions of habits in the theoretical and moral spheres, underpinned by the practical evidence from various advertising campaigns. This work shows that habits can be a crucial factor in the framework of greenwashing.