Why trust science in a trickster world of absolute contingency? The speculative force of mathematical abstraction

Abstract

This paper explores a set of dilemmas associated with relational ontologies in which contingency factors prominently, raising the methodological question: how should we come to know, and trust our knowledge of the world? I explore distrust in science and the limits of empiricism under chaotic climatic regimes and argue that a pluralist 'multiple earth' must include mathematical fabulation and other kinds of speculative abstraction.

Editorial: Introduction to CriSTaL Special Issue: Thinking with ocean/s for reconceptualising scholarship in higher education

“…Feminist, social justice, and other critical pedagogies are also proliferatingn South African contexts, as they are globally, and are also located within these larger shifts in higher education that are directed towards change and justice. Indeed, many examples of such local and global initiatives have been documented in CRiSTaL (see for example, Agherdien, 2023;Apoifis, 2022;Bozalek & Romano, 2023;Carstens, 2020;Costandius, Brand & De Villiers, 2020;De Freitas, 2020;Lingis, 2022;Lorange & Brooks, 2022;Manning, 2020;Motala, 2020;Nomdo, 2023;Nxumalo, 2020;Romano, 2020;Shaughnessy, 2022;Taylor, et al, 2023;Zournazi, 2022;Zournazi & Hayles, 2022).…”

Editorial

“…Feminist, social justice, and other critical pedagogies are also proliferatingn South African contexts, as they are globally, and are also located within these larger shifts in higher education that are directed towards change and justice. Indeed, many examples of such local and global initiatives have been documented in CRiSTaL (see for example, Agherdien, 2023;Apoifis, 2022;Bozalek & Romano, 2023;Carstens, 2020;Costandius, Brand & De Villiers, 2020;De Freitas, 2020;Lingis, 2022;Lorange & Brooks, 2022;Manning, 2020;Motala, 2020;Nomdo, 2023;Nxumalo, 2020;Romano, 2020;Shaughnessy, 2022;Taylor, et al, 2023;Zournazi, 2022;Zournazi & Hayles, 2022).…”