Prof Steve Fuller, an internationally-renowned sociologist focused on science and technology studies from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom, will be hosting two public lectures at Stellenbosch University this week. The lectures will focus on what is at stake in a post- versus trans-human future and the other on whether universities can survive a post-truth era.
Fuller, who holds the Auguste Comte Chair in Social Epistemology in the Department of Sociology at Warwick will speak about The Politics of Prefixes: What's at Stake in a 'Post-' versus a 'Trans-' Human Future? during his talk at Stias hosted by the Centre for Complex Systems in Transition as part of their Anthropocene Dialogues seminar series and on Can Universities Survive the Post-Truth Era?during a talk that forms part of the Indexing Transformation seminar series. The current theme of the Indexing Transformation seminar series is “university transformation" and the intention is to address the urgent imperatives of curriculum reform, critical pedagogy and institutional transformation in South African higher education.
Originally trained in history and philosophy of science, Fuller is the author of more than twenty books, with his most recent work focused on the future of humanity, the future of the university and intellectual life more generally. According to Dr Lloyd Hill from the Sociology and Social Anthropology Department, Fuller's work on “social epistemology" focuses on the contested and increasingly permeable boundary between the natural and social sciences. His most recent work focuses particular attention on the rapid and convergent advances in the nano-, bio-, info- and cogno-technosciences and the implications of these for our understanding of what it means to be human.
His first talk, The Politics of Prefixes, will be held on Tuesday, 14 August from 16:00 to 18:00 at the Stias Manor House, while his second talk will be held on 16 August from 13:00 to 14:30 in Room 648 in the Arts Building.
According to Fuller, his first talk will focus on what he has written about in his books for the past 10 years - the impending fork on the road to humanity's collective future, or 'Humanity 2.0'.
“It is quite clear from a host of contemporary developments – ranging from unsustainable welfare state budgets to anthropogenic climate change to revolutionary breakthroughs bio-, nano- and info-tech – that the human condition as we have known it in the modern era is on the verge of substantial change. 'Posthumanism' and 'Transhumanism' name perhaps the two most prominent forks on the road. The former would displace the human altogether as the primary locus of value, whereas the latter would amplify the presence of the human indefinitely," explains Fuller.
“Posthumanists believe that humanism went too far, while transhumanists believe that it hasn't gone far enough. The political differences implied here cut across the Right-Left ideological spectrum that has defined the Western political horizon for the past two centuries. I shall explore the implications of this divide in my talk and look at how these might be resolved."
During this talk on universities in a post-truth era, he will focus on the “tendency to see 'post-truth' disparagingly as the result of populist anti-intellectualism" or as a temporary turn in fortunes for the academics and other elites who have been shown wanting as a result of the Brexit vote and Trump's election".
“I believe that both assessments of the post-truth condition are wrong. Drawing on my latest book, Post Truth: Knowledge as a Power Game, I shall argue that regardless of what happens to Brexit or Trump, the post-truth condition is here to stay – and, in a certain sense, has always been with us. In particular, we should see our epistemic predicament as part of the growth pains of the democratisation of knowledge, an inevitable consequence of which is the downgrading of expert judgement. I shall discuss what this means in terms of how universities should re-position themselves [at my talk on 16 August]."
