[csaa-forum] The Two Cultures: Reconsidering the division between the Sciences and Humanities (July 2005)

[Christy Newman]

The Two Cultures: Reconsidering the division between the Sciences and
Humanities

21 and 22 July 2005                  
Venue: Lecture Room A, Webster Building, the University of NSW

The Two Cultures: Reconsidering the division between the Sciences and
Humanities, will bring scholars together from the sciences (physics,
molecular biology, computation, evolutionary systems) and the humanities,
social sciences and cultural theory whose work has philosophical resonance.
The purpose will be an interrogation and reassessment of current
understandings of the fact/value, real/representation, nature/culture
split. One of the casualties of “the linguistic turn” which displaced
“natural facts” with “cultural constructs” is that scientific research that
purports to explain natural facts (without inverted commas) has been
difficult to engage. Despite the rapid changes in technological, medical,
and scientific innovation that demand a serious reconsideration of human
identity - what it is and what we want it to be - intellectual cooperation
between the humanities and sciences over such questions remains desultory. 
This conference hopes to broaden the terms of understanding and critical
exchange between these research communities.  

Themes
• Biosemiosis: living systems as language systems
• Feminism and Science: a forbidden intimacy?
• Re-Figuring the Representation Question: mathematics, data and prediction
• Biotechnology and Ethical Futures: where to from here? 

Participants include:
• Professor Karen Barad: Women's Studies and Philosophy, Mount Holyoke
College (theoretical particle physicist, research expertise on Niels Bohr
and quantum mechanics)
• Professor Jesper Hoffmeyer: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of
Copenhagen (molecular biologist, biosemiotician)
• Associate Professor Thomas Lamarre:  East Asian Studies, McGill
University, Montreal (marine biologist, biophilosopher, research expertise
on archaeology of inscription)
• Dr Philippa Uwins: Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Microscopy and
Microanalysis, The University of Queensland (research expertise on nanobes,
origin of life)
• Dr Sha Xin Wei History of Science, Harvard University (mathematics,
cultural theory, art practice)
• Dr. Melinda Cooper: Sociology, Macquarie University (biophilosophy)
• Dr. Vicki Kirby: Sociology and Anthropology, UNSW (semiology,
biophilosophy)
• Dr Catherine Mills: Philosophy, UNSW (biopolitics, biotechnology, ethics)
• Dr Catherine Waldby: Sociology and Anthropology, UNSW (feminism,
biomedicine)
• Dr Elizabeth Wilson: University of Sydney (cognitive psychology and
biophilosophy)
• Dr Heather Worth: Deputy Director, National Centre in HIV Research, UNSW

Cost: $150/$75 students            

Registrations: Email Rodney McDonald at rodney.mcdonald at unsw.edu.au;
include: Name; email address; organisation; postal address and contact phone
number

Proudly Supported by: The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; UNSW

More information can be found at the website:
http://nchsr.arts.unsw.edu.au/twocultures.html