Science – Ecology – Activism

In German language

In the face of the climate crisis and the pandemic, science has taken on a new status in the social conversation. But scientists not only reflect on crisis symptoms, they also make proposals that can have a political impact - in cooperation or confrontation with activists. This is especially true for ecological problems. From an economic point of view, they make the capitalist economy appear as a disastrous management of the earth. From the perspective of the Anthropocene debates in cultural studies, they can lead to a fundamental repositioning of man in the world as well as his perception of this world. In the conversation between the literature and cultural studies scholar Eva Horn and the economic sociologist Klaus Dörre, these different perspectives will be conveyed.

Eva Horn is Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Vienna. She conducts research on literature and art in the Anthropocene, narratives of catastrophe, and conceptualizations of climate. Her major publications include "Future as Catastrophe. Fiction and Prevention" (2014) and the introduction "The Anthropocene" (2019), co-authored with Hannes Bergthaller.

Klaus Dörre is professor of sociology at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. His work focuses on capitalism and financial market theory as well as the analysis of post-growth societies. Just published "The Utopia of Socialism. Compass for a Sustainability Revolution" (2021).