Go for the Gaiacene! Knowledge, Culture and Corona

Authors

  • Peter L. W. Finke Ghent University

Keywords:

Anthropocene; Rationality; Transforming science; Needs of the future; Ecolinguistics; Uncertainty

Abstract

The author of a book on the errors of the Anthropocene ”“ a leading German ecolinguist ”“ sees parallels between the illness caused by the new Covid 19-virus and the illness of the earth caused by the Anthropocene. We have to learn that science does not mean certainty but organizing uncertainty according to rational arguments. And rationality is culture-dependent as well as universal at the same time. The ecolinguistic view on language is pioneering this understanding by including the environments of languages into its scientific scope and widening its horizon towards learning from different cultures. One of the stupidities of the present age is neglecting cognition in favour of communication and simplifying that by the English-only-fashion. That is an example for the superficiality of the Anthropocene and its pursuit of convenience. We should aim at its replacement by a Gaiacene as soon as possible.

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Author Biography

Peter L. W. Finke, Ghent University

Professor of Linguistics and the Philosophy of Science Bielefeld 1982-2005 (early retirement by choice), Gregory Bateson-Professor of Evolutionary Cultural Ecology at the Private University Witten-Herdecke 1995-1998, Visiting Professor of Ecolinguistics at Lajos-Kossuth University Debrecen 2000-2002, several visiting fellowships in Lay Science and Citizen Science, Founder and Director of the Parosphromenus Project (2010-2018). Finke founded the Bielefeld school of ecosystemic linguistics and established a new theory of culture based on Gregory Bateson’s Ecology of Mind. Moreover, because of his own activities he is widely known as an expert on voluntary forms of knowledge and citizen science: Nazi period/local history from 1958, nature/nature conservation from 1960, business theory/reform of economics from 1992, hobby/internet from 2005. Some recent books in German): Citizen Science. Das unterschätzte Wissen der Laien (2014), Freie Bürger ”“ freie Forschung. Die Wissenschaft verlässt den Elfenbeinturm (ed., 2015), Lob der Laien. Eine Ermunterung zum Selberforschen (2018).

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Published

2020-12-19

How to Cite

Peter L. W. Finke. (2020). Go for the Gaiacene! Knowledge, Culture and Corona. Ecolinguística: Revista Brasileira De Ecologia E Linguagem (ECO-REBEL), 6(4), 04–12. Retrieved from https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/erbel/article/view/35670

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2020)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2020 Ecolinguística: Revista brasileira de ecologia e linguagem (ECO-REBEL)

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