Ontological Turning Points: Climate Emergency and Post-Truth
Over the last three decades, various fields in the humanities—such as philosophy, anthropology, Science and Technology Studies, and political theory—have experienced a simultaneous shift from epistemological to ontological questions. These shifts, which initially occurred relatively independently of one another, have recently become intertwined, giving rise to what is now referred to as the ontological turn in the humanities. This convergence also appears to be a response to two major historical turning points: the now undeniable climate catastrophe and the accompanying destabilization of the distinction between nature and culture, as well as the emergence of post-truth and the resulting creation of information silos in which fundamental facts of the modern world are altered.
The international conference aims to explore the ontological turn from a diverse disciplinary perspective. Participants will engage with central concepts in the ongoing debate: What do we mean when we speak of the “ontological turn,” a “pluriverse,” “cosmopolitics,” or “entanglement”? Which schools of thought, scientific advancements, technological innovations, and eco-political developments have shaped these concepts? Most importantly, how can these ideas help us make sense of our time—of the profound transformation of planetary ecology, our fundamental concepts, and our political coordinates?
Programm
Thursday, 13 Mar 2025
10.00
- Oliver Precht (CMB, ZfL), Bernardo Bianchi (CMB, USP), Ana Coutinho (MECILA): Welcome and introduction
10.30
- Oliver Precht (CMB, ZfL): The Ontological Turn: Preliminary Reflections on its Origins, its Fundamental Concepts, and its Politics
- Alyne Costa (PUC-Rio): Ontologia política e o desafio da mutualidade
- Thomas Khurana (Universität Potsdam): Politics of Nature: Prolegomena to a Critique of Political Ecology
14.00
- Benito Maeso (IFPR/UFPR): O Fake: o que é isso? (e como o negacionismo climático é um exemplo dele)
- Renato Sztutman (USP): A proposição cosmopolítica e a luta contra a pós-verdade
- Sérgio Costa (FU Berlin, MECILA): Situações interseccionais e escolhas políticas. Desigualdades, pós-verdade, pânicos morais e extrema-direita no Brasil e na Alemanha
17.00
- Bernardo Bianchi (CMB, USP): Ecologias políticas amazônicas: entre o extrativismo e o transindividual
- Ana Coutinho (MECILA): Artefatos em Circulação: Mondiação, Agência e Relações Humanas e Não-Humanas na Máscara Apyãwa-Tapirapé
- Carlos Fausto (Museu Nacional, UFRJ): Maestria sem servidão: sobre liberdade e dependência na Amazônia indígena
Friday, 14 Mar 2025
10.00
- Jean Tible (USP): Vingança da Terra, materialismo das lutas e tramas intergaláticas
- Mariana Gainza (CONICET): Utopías ultraliberales y las ecologías de la destrucción
- Tessa Lacerda (USP)/ Raquel Imanishi (UnB): Reflexões sobre vínculos, (des)conexões e desenvolvimentos coletivos
14.00
- Jefferson Viel (USP, CMB), Marx para além do naturalismo: uma discussão sobre as interações entre natureza e modo de produção capitalista
- Thiago Dias (Unicamp/Fapesp, CMB): Alienação do mundo e os fins do sono: sobre a homogeneização do tempo segundo Hannah Arendt e Jonathan Crary
- Cecilia Ferez (Universidad de Buenos Aires): Cautiverio y relaciones fronterizas en la estatalidad periférica
17.00
- Johannes Kleinbeck (FU Berlin): The Distorting Fever of Nature: Montaigne’s On the Cannibals
- Tracie Matysik (Texas University, Austin): Bruno the Bear, Biopolitics, and the Limits of Human-Animal Relations
- Katrin Trüstedt (ZfL): Nature as Person? Perspectival Ontology and the Rights of Nature