The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future Vol. 1

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future Vol. 1 The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future Vol. 1 Edited by Albrecht Classen Printed Edition of the Special Issue Published in Humanities www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities Albrecht Classen (Ed.) The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future - Volume 1 This book is a reprint of the special issue that appeared in the online open access journal Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787) in 2014 (available at: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/humanities_1). Guest Editor Albrecht Classen Department of German Studies University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA Editorial Office MDPI AG Klybeckstrasse 64 Basel, Switzerland Publisher Shu-Kun Lin Assistant Editor Jie Gu 1. Edition 2015 MDPI • Basel • Beijing ISBN 978-3-03842-055-2 © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. All articles in this volume are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. However, the dissemination and distribution of copies of this book as a whole is restricted to MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. III Table of Contents List of Contributors ............................................................................................................. V Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(4), 740-765 .................................................................... 1 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/4/740 An-bang Yu The Encounter of Nursing and the Clinical Humanities: Nursing Education and the Spirit of Healing Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(4), 660-674 .................................................................. 28 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/4/660 Mauro Bergonzi, Francesco Fiorentino, Domenico Fiormonte, Laura Fortini, Ugo Fracassa, Michele Lucantoni, Massimo Marraffa and Teresa Numerico The New Humanities Project—Reports from Interdisciplinarity Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 415-441 .................................................................. 43 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/415 Vicki A. Spencer Democratic Citizenship and the “Crisis in Humanities” Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 398-414 .................................................................. 70 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/398 Evy Varsamopoulou Timely Meditations: Reflections on the Role of the Humanities in J.M. Coetzee’s Elizabeth Costello and Diary of a Bad Year Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 379-397 .................................................................. 87 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/379 Pedro Talavera Economicism and Nihilism in the Eclipse of Humanism Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 340-378 ................................................................ 106 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/340 Mike Hulme Climate Change and Virtue: An Apologetic Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 299-312 ................................................................ 147 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/299 Vicky Gunn Present Teaching Stories as Re-Membering the Humanities Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(3), 264-282 ................................................................ 161 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/3/264 IV Iris van der Tuin “Without an Analytical Divorce from the Total Environment”: Advancing a Philosophy of the Humanities by Reading Snow and Whitehead Diffractively Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(2), 244-263 ................................................................ 181 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/2/244 Paul Keen “Imagining What We Know”: The Humanities in a Utilitarian Age Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(1), 73-87 .................................................................... 202 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/1/73 Albrecht Classen The Challenges of the Humanities, Past, Present, and Future: Why the Middle Ages Mean So Much for Us Today and Tomorrow Reprinted from: Humanities 2014, 3(1), 1-18...................................................................... 217 http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/3/1/1 V List of Contributors Mauro Bergonzi: Dipartimento di Scienze Umane e Sociali, Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale", Palazzo Giusso, Largo S. Giovanni Maggiore, 30-80134 Napoli, Italy Albrecht Classen: Department of German Studies, The University of Arizona, 301 LSB, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA Domenico Fiormonte: Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche, Università Roma Tre, Via G. Chiabrera, 199-00145 Roma, Italy Francesco Fiorentino: Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Straniere, Università Roma Tre, Via del Valco di San Paolo, 19-00146 Roma, Italy Laura Fortini: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234- 00146 Roma, Italy Ugo Fracassa: Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234- 00146 Roma, Italy Vicky Gunn: Learning and Teaching Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK Mike Hulme: Department of Geography, King's College London, Strand WC2R 2LS, London, UK; Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, LMU Münich, Leopoldstr. 11a, Münich D-80802, Germany Paul Keen: Department of English, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 2Z8, Canada Michele Lucantoni: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234-00146 Roma, Italy Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson: School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Humber College, 205 Humber College Boulevard, Toronto, ON M9W 5L7, Canada Massimo Marraffa: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234-00146 Roma, Italy Teresa Numerico: Dipartimento di Filosofia, Comunicazione e Spettacolo, Università Roma Tre, Via Ostiense, 234-00146 Roma, Italy Vicki A. Spencer: Department of Politics, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand Pedro Talavera: Department of Philosophy of Law, Faculty of Law, University of Valencia, 46071 Valencia, Spain Iris van der Tuin: Gender Studies and Philosophy of Science, Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University, Muntstraat 2a, 3512 EV Utrecht, The Netherlands Evy Varsamopoulou: Department of English Studies, University of Cyprus, 75 Kallipoleos Street, P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus An-bang Yu: Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan 1 Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research Alcibiades Malapi-Nelson Abstract: The behavior/structure methodological dichotomy as locus of scientific inquiry is closely related to the issue of modeling and theory change in scientific explanation. Given that the traditional tension between structure and behavior in scientific modeling is likely here to stay, considering the relevant precedents in the history of ideas could help us better understand this theoretical struggle. This better understanding might open up unforeseen possibilities and new instantiations, particularly in what concerns the proposed technological modification of the human condition. The sequential structure of this paper is twofold. The contribution of three philosophers better known in the humanities than in the study of science proper are laid out. The key theoretical notions interweaving the whole narrative are those of mechanization, constructability and simulation. They shall provide the conceptual bridge between these classical thinkers and the following section. Here, a panoramic view of three significant experimental approaches in contemporary scientific research is displayed, suggesting that their undisclosed ontological premises have deep roots in the Western tradition of the humanities. This ontological lock between core humanist ideals and late research in biology and nanoscience is ultimately suggested as responsible for pervasively altering what is canonically understood as “human”. Reprinted from Humanities. Cite as: Malapi-Nelson, A. Humanities’ Metaphysical Underpinnings of Late Frontier Scientific Research. Humanities 2014, 3, 740–765. 1. Philosophical Precedents for the Scientific (Explanatory) Notions of Modeling, Mechanism and Simulation 1.1. Duns Scotus: Continuum between Physical Entities and the Divine Being After several centuries of having Aristotle’s works unavailable to Europe, the twelfth century witnessed a revival of Aristotelian philosophy. After a millennium of a Christian philosophy largely based upon Platonisminheriting at times its subsequent relative contempt for the physical realmSt. Thomas Aquinas, a member of the newly formed mendicant Order of St. Dominic, embarked upon the major task of relocating the fundamentals of Christianity upon the newly rediscovered Aristotelian writings. This displacement created waves of tension throughout Christendom. There were deep concerns regarding the outcome of combining the Christian faith with a philosophy which, even if acknowledging the existence of the Divine, it did it in a way that could forever remove it away from a human relational intimacy—Aristotle’s god was not a personal god; even less one that would become man. Aquinas was eventually reivindicated by the Church, which three centuries later placed his Summa Theologica besides the Bible on the altarthe only book ever that enjoyed such honorin the closing Mass for the Council of Trent,
Recommended publications
  • Arxiv:2102.03380V2 [Cs.AI] 29 Jun 2021
    Reproducibility in Evolutionary Computation MANUEL LÓPEZ-IBÁÑEZ, University of Málaga, Spain JUERGEN BRANKE, University of Warwick, UK LUÍS PAQUETE, University of Coimbra, CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, Portugal Experimental studies are prevalent in Evolutionary Computation (EC), and concerns about the reproducibility and replicability of such studies have increased in recent times, reflecting similar concerns in other scientific fields. In this article, we discuss, within the context of EC, the different types of reproducibility and suggest a classification that refines the badge system of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) adopted by ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization (https://dlnext.acm.org/journal/telo). We identify cultural and technical obstacles to reproducibility in the EC field. Finally, we provide guidelines and suggest tools that may help to overcome some of these reproducibility obstacles. Additional Key Words and Phrases: Evolutionary Computation, Reproducibility, Empirical study, Benchmarking 1 INTRODUCTION As in many other fields of Computer Science, most of the published research in Evolutionary Computation (EC) relies on experiments to justify their conclusions. The ability of reaching similar conclusions by repeating an experiment performed by other researchers is the only way a research community can reach a consensus on an empirical claim until a mathematical proof is discovered. From an engineering perspective, the assumption that experimental findings hold under similar conditions is essential for making sound decisions and predicting their outcomes when tackling a real-world problem. The “reproducibility crisis” refers to the realisation that many experimental findings described in peer-reviewed scientific publications cannot be reproduced, because e.g. they lack the necessary data, they lack enough details to repeat the experiment or repeating the experiment leads to different conclusions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Creation of Neuroscience
    The Creation of Neuroscience The Society for Neuroscience and the Quest for Disciplinary Unity 1969-1995 Introduction rom the molecular biology of a single neuron to the breathtakingly complex circuitry of the entire human nervous system, our understanding of the brain and how it works has undergone radical F changes over the past century. These advances have brought us tantalizingly closer to genu- inely mechanistic and scientifically rigorous explanations of how the brain’s roughly 100 billion neurons, interacting through trillions of synaptic connections, function both as single units and as larger ensem- bles. The professional field of neuroscience, in keeping pace with these important scientific develop- ments, has dramatically reshaped the organization of biological sciences across the globe over the last 50 years. Much like physics during its dominant era in the 1950s and 1960s, neuroscience has become the leading scientific discipline with regard to funding, numbers of scientists, and numbers of trainees. Furthermore, neuroscience as fact, explanation, and myth has just as dramatically redrawn our cultural landscape and redefined how Western popular culture understands who we are as individuals. In the 1950s, especially in the United States, Freud and his successors stood at the center of all cultural expla- nations for psychological suffering. In the new millennium, we perceive such suffering as erupting no longer from a repressed unconscious but, instead, from a pathophysiology rooted in and caused by brain abnormalities and dysfunctions. Indeed, the normal as well as the pathological have become thoroughly neurobiological in the last several decades. In the process, entirely new vistas have opened up in fields ranging from neuroeconomics and neurophilosophy to consumer products, as exemplified by an entire line of soft drinks advertised as offering “neuro” benefits.
    [Show full text]
  • The Publish Or Perish Book
    The Publish or Perish Book Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis Anne-Wil Harzing Edition: September 2010 For inquiries about this book, refer to the book's web page: http://www.harzing.com/popbook.htm ISBN 978-0-9808485-0-2 (PDF) ISBN 978-0-9808485-1-9 (paperback, colour) ISBN 978-0-9808485-2-6 (paperback, black & white) © 2010 by Anne-Wil Harzing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means (including electronic mail, photocopying, recording, or information sto- rage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. As the SOLE exception to the above if you purchased this book in its PDF edition, then you are allowed to print 1 (one) hard copy for your own use only for each licence that you pur- chased. Published by Tarma Software Research Pty Ltd, Melbourne, Australia. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Author Harzing, Anne-Wil. Title The publish or perish book [electronic resource]: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis / Anne-Wil Harzing. Edition 1st ed. ISBN 9780980848502 (pdf) Notes Includes bibliographical references. Subjects Publish or perish (Computer program), Authorship, Academic writing, Scholarly publishing. Dewey Number 808.02 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO CITATION ANALYSIS ...................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Publish Or Perish
    Publish or Perish Maximizing the impact of your next publication Andrew Plume, Director – Scientometrics & Market Analysis City Graduate School Welcome Event - 18th November 2013 The research life: Enable, do, share Recruit/evaluate Secure Establish Manage Develop researchers funding partnerships facilities Strategy ? Search, read, Collaborate & Experiment Analyze & review network synthesize ! Have Manage data Publish and Commercialise Promote impact disseminate 2 The research life: Publish or Perish 3 Publish or Perish: Origin 4 Publish or Perish: Evidence of published authors agree/strongly agree*: “My career depends on a history of publishing research 81% articles in peer reviewed journals” Institutional: Career advancement and funding Reasons for National: Research assessment exercises agreeing Global: Research dissemination is a goal of research Articles in peer-reviewed journals make the most At my institution, there are defined thresholds of important contribution to my career in terms of status, publications for academic promotions at least during merit pay, and marketability, vs. teaching or service. early career. Engineering & Technology, UK (36-45) Social Science, USA (36-45) If I publish well (Impact Factor, h-index) I have more Because the primary role of my job is to produce chance to get a better position and to have grants. research which is of no use if it does not get into the Medicine & Allied Health, Italy (46-55) public domain. Earth & Planetary Sciences, UK (56-65) * Survey of 3,090 published authors in November 2012
    [Show full text]
  • A Philosophical and Historical Analysis of Cosmology from Copernicus to Newton
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2017 Scientific transformations: a philosophical and historical analysis of cosmology from Copernicus to Newton Manuel-Albert Castillo University of Central Florida Part of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Castillo, Manuel-Albert, "Scientific transformations: a philosophical and historical analysis of cosmology from Copernicus to Newton" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 5694. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/5694 SCIENTIFIC TRANSFORMATIONS: A PHILOSOPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF COSMOLOGY FROM COPERNICUS TO NEWTON by MANUEL-ALBERT F. CASTILLO A.A., Valencia College, 2013 B.A., University of Central Florida, 2015 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the department of Interdisciplinary Studies in the College of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2017 Major Professor: Donald E. Jones ©2017 Manuel-Albert F. Castillo ii ABSTRACT The purpose of this thesis is to show a transformation around the scientific revolution from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries against a Whig approach in which it still lingers in the history of science. I find the transformations of modern science through the cosmological models of Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton.
    [Show full text]
  • BRAIN Neuroethics Working Group Meeting
    Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Neuroethics Working Group (NEWG) Meeting January 26th, 2021 On January 26th, 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® (BRAIN) Initiative Neuroethics Working Group (NEWG) met virtually to discuss emerging ethics themes in the BRAIN portfolio and potential future workshop topics, and revisited neuroethics themes in the BRAIN 2.0 reports. In opening remarks, John Ngai, PhD, Director of the NIH BRAIN Initiative, emphasized the importance of continuing to work towards equity, in general and in the neuroethics space. He also reminded participants of the joint session with the Multi-Council Working Group (MCWG) and NEWG, which took place the following day. Next, Saskia Hendriks, MD, PhD, Faculty in the NIH Bioethics Department and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Neuroethics Consultant, presented key findings from an analysis on emerging neuroethical considerations in BRAIN grants awarded during fiscal year 2020. Dr. Hendriks summarized 12 themes identified by the analysis, which fell into two broad groups of potential ethical challenges: conducting research ethically; and the implications of research, tools, and technologies on individuals, groups, and society. The NEWG valued these findings, recognizing that the themes were consistent with concurrent discussions of neuroethics priorities for BRAIN. Participants also considered increasing funding opportunity outreach efforts to neuroscientists interested in partnering with neuroethicists. Further, the group acknowledged the need to raise awareness about the value of integrating neuroethics into neuroscience research, potentially by hosting a workshop on identifying ways to facilitate this integration. Henry (Hank) T. Greely, JD, Director of Law and Biosciences at Stanford University and co-chair of the NEWG, led a discussion on potential future NEWG workshop topics for the next phase of the NIH BRAIN Initiative.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Academic Freedom Policies on Critical Thinking Instruction
    The Impact of Academic Freedom Policies on Critical Thinking Instruction Shirley Fessel, MA, MEd Instructor of English Park University Critical thinking enjoys almost universal support, except when applied to controversial topics. Yet it is these topics that are often the most effective initiators of critical thinking exercises that improve students’ rational approaches to challenging problems. The use of controversial issues to promote critical thinking requires an institutional commitment to academic freedom in order to survive. In some institutional contexts, the most crucial need for critical thinking is the very condition under which it is least likely to be applied. Instead, avoidance of controversy seems to be the predominant policy of institutions fearful of expensive lawsuits or damaging public relations. Several trends are decreasing the likelihood that critical thinking is applied in the classroom to challenging topics: demands for increased accountability from legislatures; scrutiny of adopted content standards; oversight of Internet and other intellectual work of professors affiliated with the universities; student challenges to faculty instruction; and attempts to curtail ideological diversity. This paper describes these current dynamics which erode academic freedom and thus the ability to apply critical thinking to controversial topics. The paper also recommends that institutions and faculty adopt clearly delineated policies related to academic freedom in order to ensure faculty freedom to promote critical thinking. Awareness of how these trends impact the instructional climate enables teachers to design instruction and be more proactive in guaranteeing that critical thinking about controversial topics is able to flourish under academic freedom. Critical thinking is defined as making judgments about the truthfulness and worth of the statement.
    [Show full text]
  • On Lav Diaz‟S a Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery
    ―Textual Mobilities: Diaspora, Migration, Transnationalism and Multiculturalism‖ | Lullaby of Diasporic Time: On Lav Diaz‟s A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery Christian Jil R. Benitez Ateneo de Manila University Philippines [email protected] Abstract Lav Diaz is a Filipino independent filmmaker notable as a key figure in the contemporary slow cinema movement. Of his oeuvre, one of the longest is A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (Filipino: Hele sa Higawang Hapis), a 2016 epic film that runs for 8 hours, orchestrating narratives derived from what are conveniently sung as mythology (i.e., Jose Rizal‘s El filibusterismo and Philippine folklore) and history (i.e., Philippine history and artifacts). The movie competed in the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Alfred Bauer Prize. This success has earned Diaz‘s the spotlight in the Filipino mainstream culture, enabling the film to be distributed to and showcased in mainstream platforms, albeit primarily garnering attention from the Filipino audience for its runtime and international attention. The movement of the film, as a text, from the local Philippines toward the international and returning home, incurs in it a textuality that disrupts the phenomenology of time diasporically, scatteringly: that as much as its 8-hour languor ―opens new perspective in the cinematic arts‖ according to the international rendition of this time, it is also the 8-hour whose value in the Philippine time is that of a day‘s labor, and thus the exoticization of its cinematic experience as a ―challenge,‖ having to endure an entire working day of slow cinematography. This diaspora of time is of no cacophony; on the contrary, it is the lullaby, sorrowful and mysterious, that finally slows Diaz in to become a filmmaker attuned to both the spaces of the local and the international.
    [Show full text]
  • Human Science
    Concepts and Language Historical Development TOK Knowledge Framework – Human Science How does the word science differ in Human and natural Greek mathematicians greatly refined the sciences? methods and expanded the subject matter of How reliable is Human Science knowledge? mathematics. Scope and Application Specific concepts such as “opportunity cost” in Economics Chinese mathematicians made early contributions including a place value system. The study of Human behaviour Use of mathematics to establish authority and rigour. Problems with questionnaires – timing and wording and Hindu/ Arabic numerical systems in use What is a human science? All of geography? Or only Human Geography sample size – the difficulty of neutral language. throughout the world today. and not Physical Geography? The development and acceptance of theories – Economics, Business, Finance and Accounting? why conflicting theories exist, and CAN exist. Psychology – does this cross over into Natural Science with Early economics studied man as a maximiser of neuroscience? utility, replaced by modern behavioural economics which sees man and naturally Investigate and understand human behavior irrational and heuristic. (Heuristic is a sort of Diverse range of disciplines – anthropology, economics, psychology, short cut that allows people to make complex sociology. judgments quickly – it’s a kind of common Human sense, rule of thumb, experimental type What makes Human Science a science? – Because it’s an investigation – Science process…) but what sort of investigation? Science is the study of the physical world by observation and experiment. Links to personal knowledge Methodology Understanding of ourselves as an individual in a society. Knowledge Questions The importance of theories in Human Science – compare and contrast to theories in natural Contributions made by individuals in Science.
    [Show full text]
  • CRITICAL THEORY Past, Present, Future Anders Bartonek and Sven-Olov Wallensein (Eds.) SÖDERTÖRN PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES
    CRITICAL THEORY Past, Present, Future Anders Bartonek and Sven-Olov Wallensein (eds.) SÖDERTÖRN PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES The series is attached to Philosophy at Sder- trn University. Published in the series are es- says as well as anthologies, with a particular em- phasis on the continental tradition, understood in its broadest sense, from German idealism to phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory and contemporary French philosophy. The com- mission of the series is to provide a platform for the promotion of timely and innovative phil- osophical research. Contributions to the series are published in English or Swedish. Cover image: Kristofer Nilson, System (Portrait of a Swedish Tax Form), 2020, Lead pencil drawing on chalk paint, on mdf 59.2 x 42 cm. Photo: Jesper Petersen. Te Swedish tax form is one of many systems designed to handle and present information. Mapped onto the surface of an artwork, it opens a free space; an untouched surface where everything can exist at the same time. Kristofer Nilson Critical Theory Past, Present, Future Edited by Anders Bartonek & Sven-Olov Wallenstein Sdertrns hgskola Sdertrns University Library SE-141 89 Huddinge www.sh.se/publications © the Authors Published under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License Cover layout: Jonathan Robson Graphic form: Per Lindblom & Jonathan Robson Printed by Elanders, Stockholm 2021 Sdertrn Philosophical Studies 28 ISSN 1651-6834 Sdertrn Academic Studies 83 ISSN 1650-433X ISBN 978-91-89109-35-3 (print) ISBN 978-91-89109-36-0 (digital) Contents Introduction
    [Show full text]
  • Climate Change: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong? Naomi Oreskes
    Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future Lecture 4 – Climate Change: How Do We Know We’re Not Wrong? Naomi Oreskes, PhD 1. Start of Lecture Four (0:16) [ANNOUNCER:] From the Howard Hughes Medical Institute...The 2012 Holiday Lectures on Science. This year's lectures: "Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future," will be given by Dr. Andrew Knoll, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University; Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego; and Dr. Daniel Schrag, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. The fourth lecture is titled: Climate Change: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong? And now, a brief video to introduce our lecturer Dr. Naomi Oreskes. 2. Profile of Dr. Naomi Oreskes (1:14) [DR. ORESKES:] One thing that's really important for all people to understand is that the whole notion of certainty is mistaken, and it's something that climate skeptics and deniers and the opponents of evolution really exploit. Many of us think that scientific knowledge is certain, so therefore if someone comes along and points out the uncertainties in a certain scientific body of knowledge, we think that undermines the science, we think that means that there's a problem in the science, and so part of my message is to say that that view of science is incorrect, that the reality of science is that it's always uncertain because if we're actually doing research, it means that we're asking questions, and if we're asking questions, then by definition we're asking questions about things we don't already know about, so uncertainty is part of the lifeblood of science, it's something we need to embrace and realize it's a good thing, not a bad thing.
    [Show full text]
  • Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization Of
    ACADEMICS NO LONGER THINK: HOW THE NEOLIBERALIZATION OF ACADEMIA LEADS TO THOUGHTLESSNESS by JUSTIN MICAH PACK A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Philosophy and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2015 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Justin Micah Pack Title: Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Philosophy by: Bonnie Mann Chairperson Alejandro Vallega Core Member Rocío Zambrana Core Member Jerry Roziek Institutional Representative and Scott L. Pratt Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded December 2015 ii © 2015 Justin Micah Pack iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Justin Micah Pack Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy December 2015 Title: Academics No Longer Think: How the Neoliberalization of Academia Leads to Thoughtlessness In my dissertation, I argue that the neoliberalization of higher education results in the university becoming less and less a place of wonder, self-cultivation and thinking and instead more and more a place to specialize, strategize and produce. This is a result of the volatile infusion and mixing of the logic of calculative rationality at work in consumer capitalism with the logic of scientific instrumental rationality already hegemonic in academia. This adds to the demands of the academic world of production the demands of the world of consumption. Now the academic (and also the student) is interpellated not only as a producer of knowledge but also as an object of consumption (to be consumed by others).
    [Show full text]