SLØK lecture by Lorraine Daston: Natural disasters and the end of blameless evil

This open lecture by Lorraine Daston of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin/University of Chicago takes place on Friday 26 May 2023, 14:30-16:00 in Nobel Auditorium (1482-105), Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, 8000 Aarhus C.

The purely natural disaster, for which no one is to blame, is an Enlightenment category. Previously, there were just disasters (tribulationes, in medieval Latin), of mixed divine, human, and natural causation, and plenty of blame to go around. In the age of anthropogenic climate change, we are fast losing the
category of the natural disaster – and with it, the concept of blameless evil. Daston asks: what happens when we lose the Enlightenment category of natural disaster, and with it, the concept of blameless evil?

The lecture is followed by a reception. All are welcome.