Culture

In recent years, debates on the relationship between history of science and history of knowledge has played a significant role in our field. Research at the Ernst-Haeckel-Haus is particularly concerned with integrating the perspectives of cultural studies into the history of science and knowledge. We inquire into the specific culture of natural science practices but also conceive the natural sciences as a cultural practice in the wider sense of the term. Broadening the concept of knowledge allows the exploration of a series of different phenomena, for example the role of metaphors, concepts, narrative structures in the formation of scientific knowledge; the analysis of textual representation and its constitutive function in the sciences and especially in the circulation of knowledge, but also more generally in the relation between science and literature. We also investigate the function of visualization practices or other material cultural practices in natural sciences.

Contact: Christina Brandt & Florence Vienne