THE ISSUE OF PRODUCING KNOWLEDGE IN A WORLD OF MANY WORLDS:
THE PRACTICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES FACING THE ANTHROPOCENE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7443/problemata.v16i3.72585Keywords:
ontological politics, environmental sciences epistemology, Anthropocene, scientific practices, abstractionsAbstract
Although the Anthropocene has been rejected as a new geological epoch, the main effectiveness of this idea, we argue, derives from its ability to bring together a series of contemporary issues in a same plane of discussion. In particular, the Anthropocene has questioned the modern nature/culture dichotomy and has led us to confront the progressive destruction of countless worlds by modern practices of inhabiting and building their own world, which is now also threatened by the consequences of its own practices. Therefore, beyond a mark in geological history, the Anthropocene is a political question of cohabitation. Nevertheless, an epistemological question derives from it, one which concerns how to produce scientific knowledge that does not disregard non-modern worlds and the role of scientific knowledge. Thus, in face of contemporary ontological politics, the present essay seeks for new orientations to the practice of environmental sciences based on Alfred North Whitehead’s and Isabelle Stengers’ discussions. We argue that it is necessary to review the questions that move our researches and the primacy of sciences regarding knowledge production. Specifically in the case of environmental sciences we argue for the necessity of review how we produce our abstractions, especially what has been conceived as environment.
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