In this episode of Urban Nature, Sheila Jasanoff delves into the intricate relationship between science, society, and the natural world. She challenges the conventional view that science merely mirrors nature, arguing instead that scientific knowledge is shaped by human mediation, representation, and power dynamics. Through an exploration of how societal choices influence scientific practices and technological developments, Jasanoff urges a deeper examination of how science interacts not only with nature but also with the fabric of social order.
“I think it’s important to understand that beside nature, the term ‘environment’, from the beginning, was also coming into being as a focus of concerted human attention and human activity.” – Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School
“Ideas of time, ideas of connection — these things get refracted through ideas of nature.” – Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School
“I think representation moves us more clearly into the domain of human agency and possibly into a search for being more reflexive about that which we choose to represent, including the virtue structures and the power structures that lie underneath any project of representation.” – Sheila Jasanoff, Pforzheimer Professor of Science and Technology Studies at the Harvard Kennedy School