[lit-ideas] Re: Grice Memorial Lecture
- From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 08:44:41 +0100 (BST)
>Yet the cunning of uncertainty is at work
underneath these forays into managing complexity.>
Sounds Hegelian to me.
(Perhaps this is part of John Worral's Lakatos-inspired campaign to destroy
Popper's philosophy by subverting it from within?)
D
On Monday, 14 October 2013, 15:23, "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx>
wrote:
... is given by any philosopher who uses 'implicature' every time he (the
philosopher, not Grice, who, accidentally -- or is it essentially? -- was
also a philosopher) _as_ he lectures.
O. T. O. H., there's the Popper memorial lecture
Cheers,
Speranza
---
2013 Popper Memorial Lecture and Reception: Helga Nowotny at the LSE
Sir Karl Popper Memorial Lecture
THE CUNNING OF UNCERTAINTY
Date: Tuesday 15 October 2013
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE
Speaker: Professor Helga Nowotny (ERC and ETH, Zurich)
Chair: Professor John Worrall (LSE)
The dominant Western narrative tells of a trajectory from fate to taking
destiny into our own hands. This has induced fantasies of control, the
capability to shape technology and the depiction of consumer choice as the
ultimate expression of individual autonomy. Still, the more choices are
available, the more we feel surrounded by uncertainty; similar to the dark
energy in the universe. Coping with uncertainty raises questions about the
limits of what can be predicted. While unprecedented computational power
increases the amount of data and hence complexity, it promises at the same
time ever more certainty. Yet the cunning of uncertainty is at work
underneath these forays into managing complexity.
Science thrives at the cusp of uncertainty and its cunning operates in
creative ways. Today, the promises of innovation dominate the political
agenda, while downplaying the inherent uncertainty and its forces of
creative destruction. In the social world intervention and manipulation
cannot be pursued like in an experimental system. The cunning of
uncertainty
is at work through competition and the strategies to influence its outcome.
Innovation cannot be planned, but 'trading zones’ offer new spaces for
negotiating uncertainty. Finally, what about errors and their propagation,
leading to false certainties? If society is to thrive at the cusp of
uncertainty, instead of being stifled by it, the openness of the future and
the degrees of freedom which uncertainty offers need to be embraced.
Helga Nowotny is president of the European Research Council (ERC). She is
professor emerita of Social Studies of Science, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology).
For further information on Sir Karl Popper memorial lectures please visit
The Sir Karl Popper Memorial Fund.
We would like to thank the Austrian Cultural Forum for their support of
this
event.
Suggested hashtag for this event for Twitter users: #LSEuncertainty
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a
first come, first served basis. For any queries call 020 7955 6043.
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