Winter School: Modes of Technoscientific Knowledge

Winter School: Modes of Technoscientific Knowledge

19-25 January 2014, Chalet Giersch, Manigod, France

Following the “practical turn” in history of science and science studies in the late decades of the 20th century, a “thing turn” has occurred in the philosophy of science and technology. Epistemology scholars are more and more concerned with “thing knowledge” rather than with theoretical representations (Baird 2004). The technological dimension of science is no longer to be seen as a mere mediation between mind and reality for the sake of theoretical representation, theory-testing or practical application. “Epistemic things” and “experimental systems” (Rheinberger 1997), models and simulations (Morrison & Morgan 1999, Varenne 2007) and other technological artifacts are reconsidered as indispensable partners in the making of scientific knowledge. But how are we to identify and conceptualize the epistemic roles of technology in technoscientific research?

As long as technoscience is assimilated with a highly application-driven enterprise aiming at remaking the world, most philosophical studies focus on the “impacts” of technoscientific applications on environment, society, or ethics and their regulation to the detriment of epistemology. However, the view of current technosciences as socio-political constructs arising less from “purely scientific” goals than from larger institutional, economic and cultural contexts does not preclude addressing their epistemic strategies qua technoscience (Bensaude-Vincent 2009; Bensaude-Vincent et al. 2011; Nordmann 2012). On the contrary, if technosciences are not only hybrids of science and technology but research projects that embody socio-political values, projects and agendas, then it is even more crucial to reconsider their epistemic status. Far from considering science (or a particular idealization of it) as “the” norm of knowledge and technoscience as a corrupted or contaminated form of it, the purpose is to characterize technoscientific knowledge as such in order to delineate an epistemology of technoscience as a distinctive enterprise with its own epistemic values and its own ways of producing knowledge as well as new forms of ignorance.

This PhD and advanced graduate winter school seeks to explore the epistemology of technoscientific knowledge on the basis of a number of case studies ranging from recent technosciences such as nanotechnology or synthetic biology, to more traditional ones, such as chemistry, pharmacy or metallurgy. The purpose is to disentangle the historical, sociological, anthropological and philosophical implications of the epistemology of technoscience. Along with stimulating topics, the school offers above all a convivial place of exchange between PhD students and more advanced scholars from various countries.

Participation in the course is free but participants are expected to pay their own travel expenses (transportation from Genevaor Annecywill be arranged). Accommodation and tuition are taken care of, leaving only a nominal amount of roughly 100 Euros for food and incidental expenses.

Please submit your abstract to Sacha Loeve before October 15, 2013. Abstracts should comprise a brief description of your technoscientific object or case study, describing how it relates to the course theme(s) and briefly sketching the central issues you are facing with it. Since the course is interdisciplinary, the abstract should include some basic information about your approach and disciplinary context.

For more information, please download the pdf.

 

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  • #ISIH2022 Conference

    #ISIH2022 Conference

    #ISIH2022 Our 2022 Conference will take place in Venice, 12-15 Sept.