WEEK 2
Wednesday, 7 May
17:00 - 18:30
'Poetics and Climate: Modern Myth and Disenchantment'
Professor Arthur Petersen, University College London (UCL)
The Gibson Lecture Room, Gibson Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford, OX2 6GG
This event is free and open to all University members and the public.
Refreshments will be served.
Abstract: This lecture takes up the theme of the supposed process of ‘disenchantment’ of the world and the role science has been claimed to play in this process vis-à-vis religion. It also considers what this implies for motivating people for climate policy, or ecological conservation more generally, on the basis of science. It is a central present-day question in the field of science-and-religion whether a science-compatible modern myth can be construed that replaces or amends classical religious myths and can ‘re-enchant’ the world. In dealing with this theme I will focus on ‘poetics’, a term that encompasses but has a wider sense than ‘poetry’ and refers to the coming together and effects of textual elements.
ARTHUR PETERSEN is Professor of Science, Technology and Public Policy at University College London (UCL), Chief Scientific Adviser to the Dutch Delta Commissioner, and Editor-in-Chief of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science.
