Virtual Talk by Henry Dicks on Biomimetic and Other Epistemologies

We are happy to welcome Henry Dicks in our series of online seminars on the philosophy of biomimetics on Monday, 12. December 2022, 8 pm CET / 7pm UCT / 2 pm EST.

Abstract: Implicit in Janine Benyus’s influential exposition of biomimicry is the idea that it embodies a new epistemological relation to nature. Nature is no longer simply what we learn about, the object of our knowledge, but what we learn from, the source of our knowledge. As it stands, however, this insight remains under-theorized and has yet to be brought into sustained dialogue with contemporary epistemology. In this talk, I will first develop the contrast between conventional epistemology (learning about nature) and what I propose to call “biomimetic epistemology” (learning from nature), before comparing and contrasting biomimetic epistemology with various different alternative epistemologies, including naturalized epistemology, externalist epistemology, social epistemology, feminist epistemology, environmental epistemology, and indigenous epistemology. By way of conclusion, I will spell out the various ways in which I think biomimetic epistemology is significant.

Henry Dicks is an environmental philosopher, currently teaching environmental ethics and environmental political philosophy at University Jean Moulin Lyon 3. His research focuses on the philosophy of biomimicry, which he analyses in its ontological, technological, ethical and epistemological dimensions. Following the completion of a DPhil at the University of Oxford on Heidegger and environmental philosophy, he has held two post-docs at the Institute of Philosophical Research of the University of Lyon, the most recent one in a collaborative research project of the University of Lyon’s urban studies research centre, IMU (Intelligence des Mondes Urbains), on the emerging concept of “biomimetic cities”. He runs the website Philosophy & Biomimicry.

His new book, The Biomimicry Revolution: Learning from Nature How to Inhabit the Earth, will be published with Columbia University Press in March 2023.

Virtual Talk by Thomas Zoglauer (in German)

Modellübertragungen zwischen Natur und Technik aus wissenschaftstheoretischer Sicht

Date: Monday, 12. September 2022, 20:00–21:30 CEST

Zoom-Details: (now deleted below, or on our mailing list)

Abstract: In der Biologie werden oft technomorphe Modelle zur Erklärung biologischer Vorgänge verwendet. Methodisch betrachtet handelt es sich dabei um Modellübertragungen von der Technik auf die Biologie. Ich werde Modellübertragungen aus wissenschaftstheoretischer Sicht analysieren sowie ihre Möglichkeiten und Grenzen aufzeigen. Am Beispiel des Informationsbegriffs in der Biologie werden die Probleme diskutiert, die mit Modellübertragungen verbunden sind.

BERLIN, Germany
20:00 Mon, Sep 12 2022
22:00 Mon, Sep 12 2022

EDT/EST, Eastern Daylight Time (US)
14:00 Mon, Sep 12 2022
16:00 Mon, Sep 12 2022

UTC, Coordinated Universal Time
18:00 Mon, Sep 12 2022
20:00 Mon, Sep 12 2022

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20220912T20&p1=3904&ah=2

Philosophy of Biomimetics

This blog presents the research of the research project “Learning from Nature: Epistemological and Ontological Foundations of Biomimetics”, funded by the DFG (project 492191929). It documents the results and supports dissemination and outreach activities of the researchers.