The Power of Positive Thinging
Dates: | November 16, 2020 |
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Meets: | Mon. from 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM |
Location: | Online Presentation |
Cost: | $0.00 |
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Please note: This course program requires membership in a 2020 - 2021 OLLI at MSU Membership or 2021 - 2022 OLLI at MSU Membership or 2021 - 2022 OLLI at MSU Membership
Timothy LeCain, professor of history in the Department of History and Philosophy at Montana State University, will discuss how new scientific insights, such as the microbiome and epigenetics, show that we have underestimated the power of non-human things to shape humans and their history. In fact, science and the humanities are suggesting a radical new idea about what it means to be human: that our intelligence, creativity and culture are in significant part the product of a vibrant material world—a world of things and non-human organisms. If cows, copper and other things make us human, then we need a new way of thinking about humanity, one that blends scientific and humanistic methods to better explain the short, strange history of our species on the planet. Such a new humanism also suggests we need to learn how to change ourselves by changing our environments: not the power of positive thinking, but the power of positive thinging!
Fee: | $0.00 |
Online Presentation
This is a real-time (live) online class that meets at the specified day(s)/time(s) listed.We will send you a reminder email with login instructions one business day before the program start date. If there are additional sessions, we will send reminders the morning of those sessions.
Timothy LeCain
Timothy James LeCain, professor of history in the Department of History and Philosophy in the College of Letters and Science at Montana State University, is the author of “The Matter of History: How Things Create the Past,” which develops a new historical method emphasizing the central role of non-human things in shaping history. His first book, “Mass Destruction,” won the 2010 best book prize from the American Society for Environmental History. LeCain has been a senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Oslo, Norway, and has twice been a research fellow at the Rachel Carson Center in Munich, Germany.