Who is afraid of the humanities
1 like2,894 views
This document summarizes a talk given by Gloria Origgi on the debate between the humanities and sciences. It discusses the history of this debate since the 1930s, outlining different rounds or iterations of the debate. It also discusses concepts like narratives, genealogy, and evolution as explanatory frameworks. The talk advocates for moving beyond narratives and embracing interdisciplinarity and vectorial explanations. It warns against excessive research ambitions that seek to reduce all explanations to a single model or debunk basic societal categories.
Who is afraid of the humanities
- 1. Who is Afraid of the Humanities? Gloria Origgi, CNRS-Institut Nicod, Paris & Italian Academy of Advanced Studies, Columbia University, NY Date 17th 2013, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA lundi 21 octobre 13
- 2. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 3. When poems can produce vaccinations, I will rescind my argument against the focus of humanities in education lundi 21 octobre 13
- 4. When vaccinations can produce poems, I will rescind my argument against the focus of science in education When poems can produce vaccinations, I will rescind my argument against the focus of humanities in education lundi 21 octobre 13
- 5. Old or New Debate? Wilhem Windenbald: Nomothetic vs. idiographic sciences Wilhem Dilthey (1884) Geisteswissenschaften (both Humanities and Social Sciences): The human sciences as they exist and as they are practiced according to the reason of things that were active in their history contain three classes of assertions (Dilthey 1883). 1) descriptive and historical statements 2) theoretical generalizations about partial contents and 3) evaluative judgments and practical rules. The human sciences are more obviously normative in nature than the natural sciences, where formal norms related to objective inquiry suf鍖ce. 束Man prior to history and society is a 鍖ction損 (Introduction to the Human Sciences, 1883) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 6. First Round: 1930-60 Frontespice of A New Universal History of Arts and Science, lundi 21 octobre 13
- 7. First Round: 1930-60 The most ominous conflict of our time is the difference of opinion betweenthe so-called humanist, on the one side, and the scientists on the other G. Sarton (1931) The History of Science and the New Humanism Frontespice of A New Universal History of Arts and Science, lundi 21 octobre 13
- 8. First Round: 1930-60 The most ominous conflict of our time is the difference of opinion betweenthe so-called humanist, on the one side, and the scientists on the other G. Sarton (1931) The History of Science and the New Humanism Literary intellectuals at one pole- at the other, scientists. Between the two, a gulf of mutual incomprehension C.P. Snow, 1959 Frontespice of A New Universal History of Arts and Science, lundi 21 octobre 13
- 9. First Round: 1930-60 The most ominous conflict of our time is the difference of opinion betweenthe so-called humanist, on the one side, and the scientists on the other G. Sarton (1931) The History of Science and the New Humanism Literary intellectuals at one pole- at the other, scientists. Between the two, a gulf of mutual incomprehension C.P. Snow, 1959 History, if viewed as a repository for more than anecdote or chronology, could produce a decisive transformation in the image of science by which we are now possessed T. Kuhn, 1962 Frontespice of A New Universal History of Arts and Science, lundi 21 octobre 13
- 10. Second Round: 1970s lundi 21 octobre 13
- 11. Second Round: 1970s Against Sociobiology (Wilson 1975) and all reductionist and deterministic approaches to social sciences that: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 12. Second Round: 1970s Against Sociobiology (Wilson 1975) and all reductionist and deterministic approaches to social sciences that: 束insistently tend to provide a genetic justi鍖cation of the status quo and of existing privileges for certain groups according to class, race or sex損 (NYRB, 13 nov 1975) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 13. Second Round: 1970s Against Sociobiology (Wilson 1975) and all reductionist and deterministic approaches to social sciences that: 束insistently tend to provide a genetic justi鍖cation of the status quo and of existing privileges for certain groups according to class, race or sex損 (NYRB, 13 nov 1975) Gould & Lewontin (1979): 束The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm損: Adaptationism is based on 束on faith in the power of natural selection as an optimizing agent損 lundi 21 octobre 13
- 14. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 15. SCIENCE WARS: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 16. SCIENCE WARS: Scienti鍖c realists against post-modernists: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 17. SCIENCE WARS: Scienti鍖c realists against post-modernists: P. Gross, N. Levitt (1994) Higher superstition: The academic left and its quarrels with science, John Hopkins UP lundi 21 octobre 13
- 18. SCIENCE WARS: Scienti鍖c realists against post-modernists: P. Gross, N. Levitt (1994) Higher superstition: The academic left and its quarrels with science, John Hopkins UP The Sokals affaire lundi 21 octobre 13
- 19. SCIENCE WARS: Scienti鍖c realists against post-modernists: P. Gross, N. Levitt (1994) Higher superstition: The academic left and its quarrels with science, John Hopkins UP The Sokals affaire Ian Hacking (1999) The Social Construction of What? Harvard UP lundi 21 octobre 13
- 20. Fourth Round, 2000/2013... Soft Obscurantism: French theory, post modernism, psychoanalysis The Two Obscurantisms: J. Elster (2009) 束Excessive Ambitions損, Capitalism and Society, 4, 2. Hard Obscurantism: Economical models, game theory, statistical data analysis lundi 21 octobre 13
- 21. Is it always the same debate? lundi 21 octobre 13
- 22. Is it always the same debate? Two mainstream debates: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 23. Is it always the same debate? Two mainstream debates: Scientism: the reduction of all questions to scienti鍖c questions lundi 21 octobre 13
- 24. Is it always the same debate? Two mainstream debates: Scientism: the reduction of all questions to scienti鍖c questions Realism vs. relativism/historicism: The existence of a mindindependent reality where facts happen that is not a product of domination relations, historicity, gender biases etc etc. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 25. Being a realist without being a scientist: YES YOU CAN! lundi 21 octobre 13
- 26. Being a realist without being a scientist: YES YOU CAN! Realism about facts doesnt imply the reduction of all questions to scienti鍖c questions lundi 21 octobre 13
- 27. Being a realist without being a scientist: YES YOU CAN! Realism about facts doesnt imply the reduction of all questions to scienti鍖c questions You can be a realist without accepting a ranking of disciplines la Comte that ends up into a legitimization of scientism, that is: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 28. Being a realist without being a scientist: YES YOU CAN! Realism about facts doesnt imply the reduction of all questions to scienti鍖c questions You can be a realist without accepting a ranking of disciplines la Comte that ends up into a legitimization of scientism, that is: Mathematics->Physics->Chemistry->Biology->Sociology.. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 29. The Post-Modern Condition: Where Lyotard Went Wrong: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 30. The Post-Modern Condition: Where Lyotard Went Wrong: Are 束Narratives損 over? lundi 21 octobre 13
- 31. The Post-Modern Condition: Where Lyotard Went Wrong: Are 束Narratives損 over? Post-modernism has become a narrative in itself about domination and social-construction of everything lundi 21 octobre 13
- 32. The Post-Modern Condition: Where Lyotard Went Wrong: Are 束Narratives損 over? Post-modernism has become a narrative in itself about domination and social-construction of everything Scientism is in itself a narrative lundi 21 octobre 13
- 33. The Post-Modern Condition: Where Lyotard Went Wrong: Are 束Narratives損 over? Post-modernism has become a narrative in itself about domination and social-construction of everything Scientism is in itself a narrative Evolutionary and game theoretic explanations of society are explicit narratives (i.e. they are conceived as a narrative on 束the emergence損 of society) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 34. Two Main Narratives in Science and Humanities: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 35. Two Main Narratives in Science and Humanities: Evolution lundi 21 octobre 13
- 36. Two Main Narratives in Science and Humanities: Evolution Genealogy lundi 21 octobre 13
- 37. Evolutionary Explanations: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 38. Evolutionary Explanations: An evolutionary explanation of a human attitude, such as a moral value, a cognitive disposition or a social behavior, conceptualizes this attitude as a selected trait, a darwinian adaptation. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 39. Evolutionary Explanations: An evolutionary explanation of a human attitude, such as a moral value, a cognitive disposition or a social behavior, conceptualizes this attitude as a selected trait, a darwinian adaptation. It retraces its history in terms of the selective pressure that may have stabilized this trait in a population. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 40. Evolutionary Explanations: An evolutionary explanation of a human attitude, such as a moral value, a cognitive disposition or a social behavior, conceptualizes this attitude as a selected trait, a darwinian adaptation. It retraces its history in terms of the selective pressure that may have stabilized this trait in a population. One of the major contributions of Darwins theory of natural selection is population-thinking: evolution through natural selection can be explained only at the level of a population. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 41. Genealogical Explanations: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 42. Genealogical Explanations: A genealogical explanation of a human attitude, a moral value, a cognitive disposition or a social behavior is a way of tracking back the social and institutional pressures that have shaped, in a precise historical time and geographical location, the form of that attitude, value etc., as well as our awareness of them and our self-ascriptions of them in describing ourselves and our social world. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 43. Genealogical Explanations: A genealogical explanation of a human attitude, a moral value, a cognitive disposition or a social behavior is a way of tracking back the social and institutional pressures that have shaped, in a precise historical time and geographical location, the form of that attitude, value etc., as well as our awareness of them and our self-ascriptions of them in describing ourselves and our social world. it is not just a thicker reading of a phenomenon, which simply adds an historical dimension to its understanding, lundi 21 octobre 13
- 44. Genealogical Explanations: A genealogical explanation of a human attitude, a moral value, a cognitive disposition or a social behavior is a way of tracking back the social and institutional pressures that have shaped, in a precise historical time and geographical location, the form of that attitude, value etc., as well as our awareness of them and our self-ascriptions of them in describing ourselves and our social world. it is not just a thicker reading of a phenomenon, which simply adds an historical dimension to its understanding, it is a way of investigating the political stakes in designating as origin and cause those categories that are in fact the effects of institutions, practices, discourses with multiple and diffuse points of origin lundi 21 octobre 13
- 45. The advantages of narratives: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 46. The advantages of narratives: They are catchy for the larger audience lundi 21 octobre 13
- 47. The advantages of narratives: They are catchy for the larger audience Easy to memorize lundi 21 octobre 13
- 48. The advantages of narratives: They are catchy for the larger audience Easy to memorize Easy to transmit lundi 21 octobre 13
- 49. The advantages of narratives: They are catchy for the larger audience Easy to memorize Easy to transmit Third culture debate: transforming science into 束pop science損 narratives in a 束struggle損 for intellectual hegemony in the public sphere. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 50. The risk of narratives: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 51. The risk of narratives: Genetic Fallacy: Even if a claim on the origins of an issue is true, it is irrelevant for justifying the issue. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 52. Beyond Narratives: A third way lundi 21 octobre 13
- 53. Beyond Narratives: A third way How to become a 束true損 post-modernist (or late-modernist?): lundi 21 octobre 13
- 54. Beyond Narratives: A third way How to become a 束true損 post-modernist (or late-modernist?): Against narratives lundi 21 octobre 13
- 55. Beyond Narratives: A third way How to become a 束true損 post-modernist (or late-modernist?): Against narratives A plea for 束vectorial損 explanations lundi 21 octobre 13
- 56. Beyond Narratives: A third way How to become a 束true損 post-modernist (or late-modernist?): Against narratives A plea for 束vectorial損 explanations Interdisciplinarity as true multilingualism (not just for a humanist to lear a law of thermodynamics and for a scientist to quote a Shakespeares sonnet) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 57. Research Ambitions: Curb Your Enthusiasm... lundi 21 octobre 13
- 58. Research Ambitions: Curb Your Enthusiasm... Avoid excessive ambitions: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 59. Research Ambitions: Curb Your Enthusiasm... Avoid excessive ambitions: The critique of society doesnt always imply a total debunking of the very basic categories on which this society is built lundi 21 octobre 13
- 60. Research Ambitions: Curb Your Enthusiasm... Avoid excessive ambitions: The critique of society doesnt always imply a total debunking of the very basic categories on which this society is built The causal mechanisms that explain a complex scienti鍖c fact are heterogeneous, dont reduce to one another, are not encompassed by a unique model of reality (Climate Change Sciences are in this sense paradigmatic) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 61. My own social epistemology: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 62. My own social epistemology: How do we know? Why do we trust an expert, a peer-review process, a ranking or a rating system, a charismatic authority, a honest person? lundi 21 octobre 13
- 63. My own social epistemology: How do we know? Why do we trust an expert, a peer-review process, a ranking or a rating system, a charismatic authority, a honest person? How our personal motivations for trust connect to our image of knowledge? lundi 21 octobre 13
- 64. My own social epistemology: How do we know? Why do we trust an expert, a peer-review process, a ranking or a rating system, a charismatic authority, a honest person? How our personal motivations for trust connect to our image of knowledge? How do we take into consideration other peoples, things and ideas reputations to evaluate them? lundi 21 octobre 13
- 65. A 束critical損 epistemology損: lundi 21 octobre 13
- 66. A 束critical損 epistemology損: Epistemology as a 束critical theory損 of the society of knowledge lundi 21 octobre 13
- 67. A 束critical損 epistemology損: Epistemology as a 束critical theory損 of the society of knowledge How our everyday knowledge connects to our moral, social and cognitive practices lundi 21 octobre 13
- 68. A 束critical損 epistemology損: Epistemology as a 束critical theory損 of the society of knowledge How our everyday knowledge connects to our moral, social and cognitive practices Epistemic responsibility: to be aware of the motivated or unmotivated acts of trust we make when we believe in something. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 69. A 束critical損 epistemology損: Epistemology as a 束critical theory損 of the society of knowledge How our everyday knowledge connects to our moral, social and cognitive practices Epistemic responsibility: to be aware of the motivated or unmotivated acts of trust we make when we believe in something. Case studies: 束unpacking損 these acts of trust (wine, web, academic reputation, 鍖nancial ratings, etc.) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 70. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 71. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 72. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking lundi 21 octobre 13
- 73. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking Lower ambitions: vectorial explanations (mosaic) lundi 21 octobre 13
- 74. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking Lower ambitions: vectorial explanations (mosaic) Tolerance lundi 21 octobre 13
- 75. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking Lower ambitions: vectorial explanations (mosaic) Tolerance Multilingualism lundi 21 octobre 13
- 76. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking Lower ambitions: vectorial explanations (mosaic) Tolerance Multilingualism Global networked communication lundi 21 octobre 13
- 77. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking Lower ambitions: vectorial explanations (mosaic) Tolerance Multilingualism Global networked communication Complex problems lundi 21 octobre 13
- 78. Interdisciplinarity as a Style of Thinking Lower ambitions: vectorial explanations (mosaic) Tolerance Multilingualism Global networked communication Complex problems Problems-driven questions lundi 21 octobre 13
- 79. Why I am a Humanist? lundi 21 octobre 13
- 80. Why I am a Humanist? I am interested in how people make sense of their knowledge of themselves and of the world lundi 21 octobre 13
- 81. Why I am a Humanist? I am interested in how people make sense of their knowledge of themselves and of the world Making sense means to build a coherent image of oneself, to recompose, in a reassuring way, the scattered pieces of our experience. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 82. Why I am a Humanist? I am interested in how people make sense of their knowledge of themselves and of the world Making sense means to build a coherent image of oneself, to recompose, in a reassuring way, the scattered pieces of our experience. Making sense is not only a cognitive attitude: it is also an evaluative attitude: to be able to distinguish between what is worth knowing, seeing, tasting, and what is not. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 83. lundi 21 octobre 13
- 84. lundi 21 octobre 13