Wednesday, September 11, 2024, 12 pm EDT - Zoom
Is Science Universal?
Prof. Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond (Côte d’Azur University)
This lecture is sponsored by the Bisan Center for Research and Development and Scientists for Palestine (S4P) - S4P is an international organisation created by and for scientists to support science in the Occupied Palestinian territories and integrate Palestine into the international scientific community.
Abstract: It is often admitted that science is one of the few (and perhaps the only one) human endeavors which may pretend to universality, beyond the differences in cultures, languages and social organizations. Relying upon various points of view (ethnographical, linguistic, historical) and appealing to many examples, it may be shown that this opinion deserves reexamination — without implying any simplistic relativism. If knowledge production is no doubt a characteristic of any human society, its forms and functions are varied enough that considering it in terms of an alleged universality of science leads to underestimate the interest and fecundity of its cultural diversity. And while it is true that the present globalization sustains a strong homogeneization of scientific practices in geographical space, it simultaneously entails a new and deep mutation in historical time.
Short biography: Jean-Marc Lévy-Leblond is a physicist and epistemologist. He is Professor Emeritus at University of Nice. His research work in theoretical physics focuses on invariance principles and group theory, quantum theory, and the structure of space-time. As a philosopher of science, he has tackled foundational problems of quantum theory and relativity theory.
He is the editor of several scientific series with the publisher Seuil (Paris), and the founder and editor of the quarterly Alliage (Culture-Science-Technique). Prof. Lévy-Leblond has authored several books on the social, political and cultural issues of modern science.
Source: Is science universal? - Scientists For Palestine (scientists4palestine.com)