POLITICAL EPISTEMOLOGY

This class introduces political epistemology as a critical reflection on science and scientific culture at the intersection of various disciplinary lines of inquiry, which include:

a. the philosophy of science;
b. the history and sociology of science;
c. political theory.

The focus of this year’s class on political epistemology will be the political epistemology of the Anthropocene.

General objectives
• To introduce students to research in political epistemology;
• To explore the ways to connect the philosophy of science with the history of science;
• To address a crucial topic of political epistemology, namely the problems of science’s collective character and the politics of science;
• To become capable of reflecting of and discussing a philosophical classic in historical epistemology and critically interpret them in the light of political-theoretical concerns.

Specific objectives
• To explore this year's specific problematic.

• Enthusiasm and readiness to engage with challenging historical and philosophical discussions and readings;
• Knowledge of English, in order to read the materials and participate in the discussion

The meetings will have a seminar-like character, alternating frontal teaching and sources-based discussion.
Students will be introduced to the main problems of political epistemology, such as the political aprioris of science, the connection of science and power, knowledge property, knowledge economy, interests and knowledge, ideology and technocracy, science collectivism, etc.

Primary sources will constitute the basis for an in-depth study and comprehension of the scientific, philosophical and political challenges of our epistemic culture on the basis of key topics/cases.

The students are expected to read in advance the texts that constitute the focus of the various classes according to the course calendar.

The focus of this year’s class on political epistemology will be the political epistemology of the Anthropocene

Mandatory literature:

Crutzen, P.J. and Stoermer, E.F. (2000). “The ‘Anthropocene’,” Global Change Newsletter International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme 41: 17-18 (http://www.igbp.net/download/18.316f18321323470177580001401/1376383088452/NL41.pdf ) (29 November 2021).
Danowski, D. and Viveiros De Castro, E.B. (2016). The Ends of the World (New York : John Wiley & Sons)
Foster, J.B. (2022), “Marx and the Rift in the Universal Metabolism of Nature,” in Capitalism in the Anthropocene (New York: Montly Review Press), Chap. 1, pp. 41-61.
Haff, P. (2019). “The Technosphere and Its Relation to the Anthropocene, in The Anthropocene as a Geological Time Unit: A Guide to the Scientific Evidence and Current Debate, edited by J. Zalasiewicz, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) 138-143
Haraway, D.J. (2016). “Staying with the Trouble: Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene,” in Jason W. Moore (ed.), Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History and the Crisis of Capitalism (Oakland, Kairos), 34-76.
Klein, N. (2014). This Changes Everything (London: Penguin Books): a selection.
McCarthy, F. et al. (2023), “The varved succession of Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario, Canada as a candidate Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Anthropocene series,” The Anthropocene Review 10/1: 146-176.
Moore, J. W. (2022). “Anthropocene, Capitalocene & the Flight from World History: Dialectical Universalism & the Geographies of Class Power in the Capitalist World-Ecology, 1492-2022” Nordia Geographical Publications, 51(2): 123–146 (https://nordia.journal.fi/article/view/116148 ) (3 August 2023)
Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K. et al. (2009). “A safe operating space for humanity,” Nature 461, 472–475.
Steffen, W. et al. (2015). “The Trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration,” The Anthropocene Review 2/1: 1-18.

Additional non-mandatory literature:

Pietro Daniel Omodeo, Political Epistemology: The Problem of Ideology in Science Studies (Dordrecht: Springer, 2019).

Referneces to further secondary literature will be made available during the classes or through Moodle.

Active participation to the classes and final oral examination on the sources and themes of the class.
The alternative of a written assignment might be considered.

scritto e orale

The teaching will consist of:
• frontal teaching, in which the professor will introduce students to the topics of the course;
• and a dialogic seminar-like part, in which students will interact with their classmates and the professor on the basis of the texts they have been assigned and they have to read in preparation for the lessons.