95672 - Nature, Cultures, Technologies (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The course addresses the interactions between nature, cultures, and technologies from a cross-disciplinary and long-term perspective. At the end of the course the students will have: – conducted an in-depth exploration of historical cases and contemporary data; – learned to assess the sources and use the critical tools to address these themes independently.

Course contents

Rethinking the Anthropocene: Production, use and communication of technologies and knowledge in evolutionary and historical perspective

This course (classes begin on 29 January 2024) is seminar-based and, thanks to the participation of natural science and philosophy students, provides an opportunity for comparing different approaches to studying the interactions between nature, technologies, and society.

Our focus case is humans’ contentious relationships with Others (including other species), the environment, and technologies, initially lithic ones, that ancestor species began to develop over 3 million years ago. Although such technologies have supported our evolution, but during our onlife we continue to oscillate between a rejection/suspicion and addiction to/compulsive use of them. It thus follows that class discussions will delve into environmental issues as well as social ones, considered from both evolutionary and historical perspectives.

We will explore these macro-themes by taking an integrated approach that brings the natural sciences into dialogue with the social sciences: science studies-or science, technology and society (STS) studies (this approach will be introduced in the first week of class). STSs foster innovative and interdisciplinary collaborations at the intersection of society and natural, technological, historiographic or philosophical knowledge, helping us to forge less self-referential and human-centered images of the reality surrounding us.

This is the lens through which we will discuss the mismatch between our species’ different cognitive capacities: the ability to produce decidedly interesting technical-scientific, artistic and cultural achievements, on the one hand, and a persistent inability to make sustainable interpersonal, social and political uses of them, on the other. (approx. second/third week of class).

The context for our discussions will be both deep time and historical. In historical times, we will focus on the role communication technologies have played in scientific development. In particular, between the age of Darwinism’s spread and today, we will investigate the history, forms and functions of science popularization and communication: practices that are as indispensable to scientific creativity as they are powerful - both negatively and positively - in shaping the relationships among science, politics and society.

In this context, we will review some of the leading expert arguments in support of sustainable resource use – such as the masterpiece by G.P. Marsh (1801-1882), Man and Nature, 1864 (the 150th anniversary of its publication falls in 2024) – or “olicist” approaches to studying the Earth System, such as the Gaia hypothesis developed by chemist and inventor James Lovelock (1919-2022) and evolutionary microbiologist Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) (approx. fourth week of class).

For the reasons mentioned above, in addition to the specialized articles that will be uploaded to the platform, the planned texts are communicative and chosen with a view to training us in analyzing and comparing the goals, argumentative and writing strategies of thinkers who have successfully engaged at an international level with the challenge of communicating the core topics of this course to diverse audiences, experts and non-experts alike.

The last week of class will be devoted to classroom discussion of group work.

Beginning January xx, 2024, classes will be held on these days and times:
Monday 1-3 p.m. (classroom D, Zam34);
Tuesday 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (classroom A, Zam34);
Wednesday 1-3 p.m. (classroom C, Zam34).

IMPORTANT NOTE
In case of coughs, colds, sore throats or other symptoms (even mild ones), those attending class are asked to wear a mask rated FFP2 or higher. Thank you.

Readings/Bibliography

The program is the same for attending and non attending students, including students of the Erasmus program.

1. Texts, films, and PowerPoints posted (during the course) on the e-learning platform;

2. Bruno Latour, Essere di questa Terra. Guerra e pace ai tempi dei conflitti ecologici, a cura di Nicola Manghi, Torino : Rosenberg & Sellier, 2019.

3. Luciano Floridi, The Fourth Revolution: How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality, Oxford UP, 2014.

4. Silvana Condemi e François Savatier, Noi siamo Sapiens. Alla ricerca delle nostre origini, Torino, Bollati Boringhieri, 2019 (1° ed. orig. 2018; 140 pp.)

5. [for Philosophy studentes] Giampietro Gobo e Valentina Marcheselli, Sociologia della scienza e della tecnologia. Un’introduzione, Carocci, Roma, 2021, Introduzione, Parti II e III.

5. [ for BioEvo students] P. Govoni, Che cos’è la storia della scienza, Roma, Carocci, 2019.

Recommended reading

James Lovelock, Gaia. A new look at life on Earth, Oxford University press, 1979, disponibile al link.

Teaching methods

This course is part of the Digital Innovative Teaching (DDI) program. Various materials and documents will be uploaded to the Virtual platform (Bibliography item 5). Lectures will be recorded and made available remotely via a Virtuale link. Those listening to the lectures at a later moment will be able to post questions and comments via the forum (Virtuale) or by email (p.govoni@unibo.it).

This course aims to support self-assessment processes and thus avoids as much as possible the traditional three-phase approach of lecturing, autonomous learning, and evaluation. Instead, we will try to adopt different practices (e.g. flipped classroom and cooperative learning approaches) in an attempt to mix these three phases in different ways. The aim is to provide students with greater autonomy in terms of studying, conducting in-depth analysis and communicating what they read, as well as the skills of group work and peer discussion. We will do this together by organizing the group activities and discussions that are a fundamental component of this course. These activities are accessible for both in-person and online students. Those who cannot attend the lectures will study the texts indicated in the course readings list.

Students attending this course (in person or online) will be invited to present – in groups of two/three and preferably combining both Philosophical Sciences and Biodiversity and Evolution – on a topic related to the course and previously specified with the teacher. Up to 5 points will be awarded for these activities.

Students attending this course (in person or online) will be able to take a written exam (using the Forms platform) at the end of the lectures: on the basis of an outline, the aim will be to present an argument about the materials discussed in the lectures and presented in the small group presentations in a personal and critical way, including on the basis of students’ own notes and using correctly cited online resources. Up to 5 points will be awarded for this exam.

Assessment methods

Oral exam: this consists of three questions, stemming from a freely chosen topic.

Students will be tested on their knowledge of the course’s bibliography, as well as on their ability to reason in a logical, concise and personal way.

The accuracy and precision of the student’s way of expression will also be taken in consideration.

For further information, please consult the educational guidelines here (Regolamento didattico).

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders have the right to special accommodations according to their condition, following an assessment by the Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact the teacher but get in touch with the Service directly to schedule an appointment. It will be the responsibility of the Service to determine the appropriate adaptations. For more information, see here .

Teaching tools

PowerPoint; e-learning tools.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Govoni