How to Think About Catastrophe Toward a Theory of Enlightened Doomsaying

Catalog description

Once attributed to the wrath of the gods, disasters are now understood as punishments that man would inflict on himself: in the Anthropocene era, even Nature has ceased to be independent of human action. We know today that there are two ways, intimately related, for humankind to annihilate itself: the direct way, through unlimited violence, weapons of mass destruction, internecine war at the planetary level; the indirect way, through the destruction of the conditions that are necessary for the survival of the species. This seminar will explore the following menaces: nuclear war, climate change, gene editing, synthetic biology, advanced artificial intelligence. Among the philosophemes that will be summoned: the post-Heideggerian critique of technoscience (Hannah Arendt and Günther Anders), Hans Jonas' Ethics of the Future, the notion of existential risk and the instructor's concept of "Enlightened Doomsaying." Appeal to literary works and films will be integral part of the program. By and large, this research seminar will strive to exemplify what the humanities in the broader sense of the word can bring to the discussion of the existential threats that stand in the way of humankind's progression. Too often, this discussion is limited to the technological dimension of the problems at hand. The humanities are not and shouldn't be the enemy of technology. However, the conversation between them remains a challenge that this course will strive to take up.