interesting conference.

The Two Cultures:

Reconsidering the division between the Sciences and Humanities

http://nchsr.arts.unsw.edu.au/twocultures.html

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 thecasualties 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@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