Lecture by dr.ir. Jan van der Stoep
Description
Science and technology are often seen as engines of progress. From such a viewpoint, development mainly means 'technology transfer', or the introduction of knowledge and tools that are absent in the Third World. But is this justified? And doesn't the dominance of modern science and technology lead to the domination of a Western worldview and thus a reduction of cultural diversity? In my lecture, alongside this common view of technology and globalisation, I want to address two alternative views that point to the importance of intercultural development. The first view places strong emphasis on diversity as a coexistence of different cultural traditions that, while interacting, each possess their own distinct characteristics. In contrast, the second view assumes that culture is something that people constantly create and recreate. Precisely because of new communication media, we are confronted with a great diversity of cultural and religious beliefs. I base my lecture mainly on chapter 11 of 'Thinking, designing, making', but also try to take it a step further. Intercultural development, I want to show, requires us to account both for context, structure and direction of our technical actions.
CONTENTS
The venue will be open from 6.30pm for free coffee or tea and a social chat.
Given the interest in the topic, potential interested parties other than from the Philosophy & Engineering Department are also invited. However, room space is limited to 30 seats.
ROUTE DESCRIPTION
From Utrecht CS station hall, walk the entire passage through Hoog Catharijne towards the city centre. Upon arrival at the square, the Vredenburg 19 meeting centre is on your left, above C & A. When you get down, walk diagonally left along the walls of the building site, the square and the street (Vredenburg) have to be crossed. On the ground floor, there is only an entrance hall with lifts and a notice board with the hall numbers, to the left of the C & A windows, next to the shoe shop Breugel.
Parking facilities include NH hotels
Speaker(s)
The speaker will be Dr Jan van der Stoep. He studied biology at Wageningen University and philosophy at VU University Amsterdam. In 2005, he obtained his PhD with the thesis 'Pierre Bourdieu and the political philosophy of multiculturalism' (Kok Kampen). He teaches at the master's programme Christian Studies of Science and Society at VU University Amsterdam and is director of the Institute for Cultural Ethics. He is co-author of the book 'Thinking, designing, making'. He has also written several other publications on new media, globalisation and cultural diversity.
Location
Meeting centre, Vredenburg 19, Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information via the e-mail address below.