Pagina principaleGruppiConversazioniAltroStatistiche
Cerca nel Sito
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.

Risultati da Google Ricerca Libri

Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.

Sto caricando le informazioni...

Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures on the New Climatic Regime (2015)

di Bruno Latour

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiConversazioni
1163235,961 (4.5)Nessuno
The emergence of modern sciences in the seventeenth century profoundly renewed our understanding of nature. For the last three centuries new ideas of nature have been continually developed by theology, politics, economics, and science, especially the sciences of the material world. The situation is even more unstable today, now that we have entered an ecological mutation of unprecedented scale. Some call it the Anthropocene, but it is best described as a new climatic regime. And a new regime it certainly is, since the many unexpected connections between human activity and the natural world oblige every one of us to reopen the earlier notions of nature and redistribute what had been packed inside. So the question now arises: what will replace the old ways of looking at nature? This book explores a potential candidate proposed by James Lovelock when he chose the name 'Gaia' for the fragile, complex system through which living phenomena modify the Earth. The fact that he was immediately misunderstood proves simply that his readers have tried to fit this new notion into an older frame, transforming Gaia into a single organism, a kind of giant thermostat, some sort of New Age goddess, or even divine Providence. In this series of lectures on 'natural religion,' Bruno Latour argues that the complex and ambiguous figure of Gaia offers, on the contrary, an ideal way to disentangle the ethical, political, theological, and scientific aspects of the now obsolete notion of nature. He lays the groundwork for a future collaboration among scientists, theologians, activists, and artists as they, and we, begin to adjust to the new climatic regime.… (altro)
Nessuno
Sto caricando le informazioni...

Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro.

Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.

Circuito Ubu - Junho de 2020
  HelioKonishi | Apr 21, 2022 |
Facing Gaia collects the lectures that the French philosopher Bruno Latour delivered at Edinburgh University in 2013 for their Gifford lectures series. Across eight lengthy essays Latour, a well known figure in the field of Science Studies and the Environmental Humanities, offers a sustained critique of the scientific and cultural discourse around climate change. In opposition to the dominant idea of "Nature" that is it at the heart of most environmental ideals, Latour argues for the concept of Gaia, which, rather than presupposing a natural state of affairs, instead attempts to describe the earth through systems analysis. Latour's defence of the Gaia concept (which historically has not really been taken seriously by many in either the sciences or the humanities) is spirited and convincing. Having said that, I remain unconvinced that an anthropomorphised, highly gendered, Greek goddess is going to provide the cultural symbol that can change society's ideas about the planet. While Latour takes into account the cultural valences of Gaia, this is perhaps the least convincing aspect of his argument.

Over the course of the book Latour discusses the history of both science and religion, the limitations to seeing the world as full of deanimated "things", why we need apocalypse but not the Apocalypse and the necessity for science to get political. His argumentation is rigorous and provocative. The writing is engaging, although some might find the tone of the book distracting. At times, the tone borders on flippancy and imprecision (the metaphor of "madness" in the introduction is, for instance, pretty ill considered). There are places, too, where more conceptual clarity would have been welcome. That said, these are minor quibbles and across the book's three hundred plus pages there is more than enough sustenance, new ideas and radical thinking to make it essential reading for anyone interested in what the consequences of climate change might be for the humanities. ( )
  shemthepenman | Dec 4, 2020 |
How this book is needed!

So many books about climate change feel that they need to trade entirely upon facts: of course, facts are important but, as the rise of President Trump in the USA shows, facts can be overrated. Passion counts for far more than a host of percentages. Bruno Latour demonstrates both an understanding of the facts AND the ability to wear his heart upon his sleeve. There are no holds barred in this work. Do not be fooled by the use of 'Gaia' in the title; this is not a hippy-dippy book. Just because there is passion, there is certainly no lack of hard fact.

The book is based upon eight lectures and there is a slight air of being lectured but, when the lecturer is as knowledgeable as this, I am not complaining. We must get away from this idea that any fact concerning climate change is challengeable. A fact is a fact and, when 97% scientists accept something, it should not be used as a 50:50 statement with as much time given to the skeptic's view.

Read this book! ( )
  the.ken.petersen | Jan 13, 2018 |
Mostra 3 di 3
We cannot hide from the fact that there is a fundamental misunderstanding about Gaia. We think we are using the name of this mythological figure to designate the quite common time-honored idea that the Earth is a living organism. Lovelock is renowned, they say, simply because he recast in cybernetic language the ancient idea that the Earth is finely tuned. The words “regulation” and “feedback” replace the antique idea of “natural balance” or even providence.

Now, the scientific hypothesis developed by Lovelock in the 1960s, and then a few years later in collaboration with another equally controversial researcher, Lynn Margulis (1938–2011), has, in my opinion, nothing to do with any natural “balance” or “harmony.” “Gaia” — since this is the name he gave to this hypothesis — is neither a big thermostat nor a superorganism, a sort of successor to the Mother Earth (or the stepmother) who features in so many mythologies. Facing up to her, as I say in Facing Gaia, means accepting another way of defining living things in their relations to the Earth, which is quite foreign to the way a superior and predetermined natural order is invoked.
 
Devi effettuare l'accesso per contribuire alle Informazioni generali.
Per maggiori spiegazioni, vedi la pagina di aiuto delle informazioni generali.
Titolo canonico
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
Titolo originale
Titoli alternativi
Data della prima edizione
Personaggi
Luoghi significativi
Eventi significativi
Film correlati
Epigrafe
Dedica
Incipit
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
Lingua originale
Dati dalle informazioni generali inglesi. Modifica per tradurlo nella tua lingua.
DDC/MDS Canonico
LCC canonico

Risorse esterne che parlano di questo libro

Wikipedia in inglese

Nessuno

The emergence of modern sciences in the seventeenth century profoundly renewed our understanding of nature. For the last three centuries new ideas of nature have been continually developed by theology, politics, economics, and science, especially the sciences of the material world. The situation is even more unstable today, now that we have entered an ecological mutation of unprecedented scale. Some call it the Anthropocene, but it is best described as a new climatic regime. And a new regime it certainly is, since the many unexpected connections between human activity and the natural world oblige every one of us to reopen the earlier notions of nature and redistribute what had been packed inside. So the question now arises: what will replace the old ways of looking at nature? This book explores a potential candidate proposed by James Lovelock when he chose the name 'Gaia' for the fragile, complex system through which living phenomena modify the Earth. The fact that he was immediately misunderstood proves simply that his readers have tried to fit this new notion into an older frame, transforming Gaia into a single organism, a kind of giant thermostat, some sort of New Age goddess, or even divine Providence. In this series of lectures on 'natural religion,' Bruno Latour argues that the complex and ambiguous figure of Gaia offers, on the contrary, an ideal way to disentangle the ethical, political, theological, and scientific aspects of the now obsolete notion of nature. He lays the groundwork for a future collaboration among scientists, theologians, activists, and artists as they, and we, begin to adjust to the new climatic regime.

Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche

Descrizione del libro
Riassunto haiku

Discussioni correnti

Nessuno

Copertine popolari

Link rapidi

Voto

Media: (4.5)
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4 3
4.5
5 3

Sei tu?

Diventa un autore di LibraryThing.

 

A proposito di | Contatto | LibraryThing.com | Privacy/Condizioni d'uso | Guida/FAQ | Blog | Negozio | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteche di personaggi celebri | Recensori in anteprima | Informazioni generali | 205,457,312 libri! | Barra superiore: Sempre visibile