The Evolution of Knowledge: Rethinking Science for the Anthropocene

581 Pages·2020·119.932 MB·English

by  Jürgen Renn

Evolution Knowledge
The of

T h e
Evolution
o f
Knowledge
R e t h i n k i n g
S c i e n c e
f o r t h e
A n t h r o p o c e n e
Jürgen Renn
PRINCE TON UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Renn, Jürgen, 1956– author.
Title: The evolution of knowledge : rethinking science for the Anthropocene / Jürgen Renn.
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019016246 | ISBN 9780691171982 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Science—Philosophy. | Science—History.
Classification: LCC Q175 .R39275 2020 | DDC 500—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2019016246
ISBN (ebook): 9780691185675
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
Editorial: Eric Crahan, Thalia Leaf
Production Editorial: Terri O’Prey
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Contents
List of Explanatory Boxes viii
The Story of This Book ix
Part 1: What Is Science? What Is Knowledge?
Chapter 1: History of Science in the Anthropocene 3
Chapter 2: Ele ments of a Historical Theory of Human Knowledge 23
Part 2: How Knowledge Structures Change
Chapter 3: The Historical Nature of Abstraction and Repre sen ta tion 37
Chapter 4: Structural Changes in Systems of Knowledge 65
Chapter 5: External Repre sen ta tions at Work 87
Chapter 6: Mental Models at Work 103
Chapter 7: The Nature of Scientific Revolutions 118
Part 3: How Knowledge Structures Affect Society and Vice Versa
Chapter 8: The Economy of Knowledge 145
Chapter 9: An Economy of Practical Knowledge 170
Chapter 10: Knowledge Economies in History 190
Part 4: How Knowledge Spreads
Chapter 11: The Globalization of Knowledge in History 247
Chapter 12: The Multiple Origins of the Natu ral Sciences 280
Chapter 13: Epistemic Networks 301
Part 5: On What Knowledge Our Future Depends
Chapter 14: Epistemic Evolution 323
Chapter 15: Exodus from the Holocene 355
Chapter 16: Knowledge for the Anthropocene 377
Chapter 17: Science and the Challenges of Humanity 408
Glossary 417
Notes 435
References 469
Index 543
Explanatory Boxes
Forgotten Traditions in the History of Science 53
How the Practical Roots of Mathematical Knowledge Were Suppressed 94
La querelle des anciens et des modernes (Battle of the Books) 116
Kuhn versus Fleck 119
Special Relativity 133
The Metric Tensor 137
Heisenberg’s Matrix Mechanics as a Transitional Synthesis 140
Marx’s Value Theory and Its Counterpart in the Information Society 156
Representations, Power, and Transcendence 166
Three Dimensions of Knowledge in Anthropology 191
An Imaginary Global Past: The “Axial Age” 201
Sovereignty, Representation, and the Emergence of the Modern State 218
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 253
An Even Shorter History of Time 337
The Emergence of Language in Recent Times 345
The Onset of the Anthropocene 359
Geoanthropology 375
Knowledge as a Common Good 395
The Story of This Book
I can see no other escape from this dilemma (lest our true aim be lost for ever) than
that some of us should venture to embark on a synthesis of facts and theories, albeit
with second-h and and incomplete knowledge of some of them— and at the risk of
making fools of ourselves.
— Erwin Schrödinger, What Is Life?
A Long- Term Research Proj ect and Its Roots
This book covers a time span from the origins of h uman thinking to the modern chal-
lenges of the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is regarded h ere as the new geological
epoch of humankind, defined by the profound and lasting impact of human activi-
ties on the Earth system. The Anthropocene is thus the ultimate context for a history
of knowledge and the natu ral vanis hing point for an investigation of cultural evolu-
tion from a global perspective. From this perspective, I have tried to bind multiple
historical and geo graphi c al horizons together. This book deals with both the longue
durée aspects of the evolution of knowledge and the accelerated changes in the de-
velopment of knowledge that have brought us into the Anthropocene.
The foundation of the book is research pursued at the Max Planck Institute for
the History of Science since 1994.1 My studies and t hose of my colleagues have been
dedicated from the beginning to an investigation of the history of science as part of
a larger history of h uman knowledge. We have consistently emphasized the role of
practical knowledge and historical continuity, even when focusing on the turning
points of modern science. Our investigations include cross- cultural comparisons, in
par tic u lar between Western, Chinese, and Islamic science, and a research program
on the globalization of knowledge in history.
The research on which this book is based has been (and continues to be) a joint
endeavor. It was born from a conceptual framework for a historical epistemology—
understood as a historical theory of knowledge— developed with Peter Damerow,
Peter McLaughlin, and Gideon Freudenthal on the basis of earlier work by Peter
Damerow and Wolfgang Lefèvre on science and its relation to h uman labor and its
societal organi zation. Wolfgang Lefèvre, Klaus Heinrich, and Yehuda Elkana taught
me to see science within the broadest contexts of human history and to critically
rethink the promises of its Enlightenment ideals and its potential to contribute to
humanity’s self- awareness.
The pre sent work owes much to the thinking of Peter Damerow, to his leading
role in our research team, and to our friendship and collaboration over more than
thirty years. It also builds on the fundamental theoretical insights (drawing from phi-
losophy, educational research, psy cholo gy, and cognitive science) collected in his
1996 book, Abstraction and Repres ent at ion.2 I have incorporated here some of the