Ignorance - 2016/17
This lunch lecture series has led us to the frontiers of research, its greatest challenge and, some may say, its greatest enemy: what it is that we don't know, and that maybe we will never know! Or: that we don't know yet! Or: that we don't even know yet that we don't know! Or: that we don't want, or should not want, to know! Or: that we are not supposed to know! And in the latter case: who then is it who doesn't want us (academics, ultimately society) to know?
From the different perspectives of a highly diverse set of academic disciplines and research cultures, FRIAS Fellows have addressed these and other questions relevant for shedding light on ignorance — including its epistemology (which involves issues like its conditions and variation), ethics (which involves issues like self-censorship), politics (which involves issues like agenda setting or censorship), economics (which involves issues like the campaigning power of large companies or sectors of industry), or sociology (which involves issues like the (lacking) impact of science on society and the question what kind of knowledge society wants to share, or see produced, and which rather not). The lecture series has also built on recent research in the fields of „ignorance studies“ and „agnotology“, which tackles the production of ignorance, for example ignorance about the dangers of climate change, smoking, nuclear power, fracking, or sugar in soft drinks. Ignorance is nothing to be ignored! It has many fascinating dimensions, as we shall see and explore, in science as much as in society.
Some literature recommendations:
- Groß, Matthias/Linsey McGoey (2015), Routledge International Handbook of Ignorance Studies. Rutledge
- the first 80 pages from: Matthias Groß (2010), Ignorance and Surprise, MIT Press
- Proctor, Robert/ Schiebinger, Londa eds. (2008): Agnotology. The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance. Stanford University Press: Standford
- Böschen, Stefan/Wehling, Peter (2010): Scientific Nonknowledge and Its Political Dynamics: The Cases of Agri-Biotechnology and Mobile Phoning. in: Science, Technology, & Human Values 35(6) 783-811
- Dies. (2004), Wissenschaft zwischen Folgenverantwortung und Nichtwissen. Aktuelle Perspektiven der Wissenschaftsforschung, Wiesbaden
- Firestein, S. 2012. Ignorance: How it drives science. Oxford University Press
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/ignorance-9780199828074?cc=de&lang=en&
10. November 2016 |
Ignorance Studies & their relevance for Science Studies and Society Prof. Dr. Bernd Kortmann (Linguistics) and Veronika Lipphardt (Science and Technology Studies) |
24. November 2016 |
Prof. Dr. A. Ganesan (University of East Anglia, Chemie) |
08. Dezember 2016 |
"Ignorance" and the Middle East. Deconstructing the present through its past. Dr. Lorenzo Kamel (Harvard University, History and Islamic Studies) |
15. Dezember 2016 |
Ignorance in (Social) Networks Prof. Dr. Olaf Rank (Wirtschaftswissenschaften) |
12. Januar 2017 |
Knowing, Not Knowing, and the Quest for Understanding: Ignorance and Literary Hermeneutics Dr. Dustin Breitenwischer (Nordamerikastudien) |
26. Januar 2017 |
Poking our ecological ignorance Prof. Dr. Diego P. Vázquez (Biologie) |
09. Februar 2017 |
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Bernhard Spielberg (Katholische Theologie) |