Science and the Other

An Inquiry into the Geopolitics of Knowledge, Potiguara Ontology and the Hard Problem of Modern Science
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-3-032-03926-2
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 474 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 930 g

Reihe: Schriften zu Leben und Gesellschaft - Series on Life and Society

Modern science has given us the superpowers that have brought about the 'Anthropocene', but unfortunately not the wisdom to face its existential challenges. We cannot afford to dismiss potentially useful knowledge on mere ideological grounds without due assessment. Science and the Other is an in-depth exploration of what hinders us from engaging in cross-fertilising pluriversal dialogue. The book examines how scientific universalism naturalises the exploitation of both human and non-human nature. Other(-ed) knowledge practices are marginalised and excluded from scientific discourse on the presumption that they are incompatible with scientific evidence. However, an in-depth comparative analysis of the marginalised views and practices of the Brazilian Potiguara nation shows that their cosmology is not contradicted by scientific evidence, and hence a constructive dialogue should be possible. Furthermore, the use of radically different metaphors paints a different picture of 'reality', allowing onto-epistemic shifts and opening up new horizons towards alternative futures beyond the scope of modern/colonial metaphysics.

This is an open access book.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Linhart, Jan

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Wissenschaften: Theorie, Epistemologie, Methodik
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Allgemeines
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie
• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsphilosophie, Rechtsethik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction.- Part I: Scientific Universalism.- 2. What is Scientific Universalism?.- 3. The Metaphysics of Universalism.- 4. The Geopolitics of Scientific Universalism.- 5. The Scientific Construction of the Other.- Part II: The Potiguara.- 6. On Method.- 7. Research in Action.- 8. Changing Potiguara Worlds.- 9. Contemporary Potiguara Ritual and Cosmovision.- 10. Potiguara Ontology.- Part III: The Hard Problem of Modern Science.- 11. The Hard Problem of Consciousness.- 12. What Quantum Physics may Tell Us about Mind and Matter.- 13. A Potiguara Perspective on Quantum Physics?.- 14. Conclusion and Outlook.

Über Autor(innen)

Jan Linhart is an anthropologist and a senior researcher at the Center for Life Ethics at the University of Bonn. Over the past 25 years, he has collaborated with marginalised ethnic groups and intercultural indigenous universities in Latin America. His work has focused on the intertwined relations between modern/colonial legacies of epistemic violence, structural inequality and the exploitation of human and more-than-human nature. These collaborations are based on long-standing partnerships and joint transdisciplinary action research together with indigenous academics, local communities and intercultural universities, including the Universidad Autónoma Intercultural Indígena (UAIIN/CRIC, Colombia) and Amawtay Wasi (Ecuador). His current work at the Center for Life Ethics focusses on the establishment of Pluriversal Dialogues as an integral part of scientific practice and the development of Life Ethics as an ontologically open ethical framework for cosmopolitical negotiations of desirable futures.