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In this article we present the results of a biology teaching module offered at university bachelor level for law students and social sciences students in Lima, Peru. The objective was to trigger philosophical reflection on the notion of nature (cognitive dimension) and to assess if and to what extent the use of poetry contributes to the students' understanding of nature by adding emotional and conative (desire for action) dimensions. We accounted three dialectical moments of natural sciences and nature poetry in history and discussed their meaning in the context of biology teaching nowadays. We also highlighted the importance of poems as semiotic resources for science learning and explored bibliographic accounts of similar studies. Our results indicate that nature poetry fosters a holistic view of nature, allowing students to combine knowledge with value concerns, and cognitive with conative and emotional dimensions. Also, poetry allows them to connect or confront scientific information with traditional indigenous knowledge. Finally, we found that poetry afforded students a sense of freedom to present and discuss their personal experiences with nature. We concluded that this module can be used as a supplementary educational tool in biology courses and those meant to inspire action and reflection in the face of global environmental challenges.

In Seminar XVII, entitled The reverse side of psychoanalysis, Jacques Lacanpresents his famous theorem of the four discourses. In this rereading I propose todemonstrate that Lacan's theorem entails a transferable dialectical method for studyingprocesses of knowledge production, enabling contemporary scholars to develop adiagnostic of the present, notably scholars interested in issues such as the vicissitudesof knowledge production under capitalism, the crisis of the university and theproliferation of electronic gadgets. In short, I will argue that Lacan's theorem of the fourdiscourses entails a dialectical diagnostic of technoscientific knowledge during latecapitalism. First, the four discourses will be briefly outlined, emphasising the extent towhich they entail, albeit in an ambivalent manner, a return or detour to the logic ofHegel. Subsequently, each discourse will be presented in more detail, emphasisinghow they allow us to come to terms with the current status of technoscientificknowledge. Special attention will be given to the political backdrop of the seminar: thecrisis of the university. Finally, I will discuss the historical dimension, outlining both thepredecessor of the four discourses and their current predicament under neoliberal/capitalist conditions., Author(s): Hub Zwart [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.6906.9, 0000000092621349, Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPhil), Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR), , Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Introduction Jacques Lacan's Seminar XVII, [...]

My effort to address the comments made by the two distinguished scholars (to 'negate their negations' as it were), consists of three steps. I will start with a brief resume of Hegel's dialectical logic, to provide a scaffold for the debate. Subsequently, I will address the comments made. In the case of Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, I will focus on his reference to Althusser. In the case of Bart Gremmen, I will focus on the dialectics of biology (on biology as an inherently dialectical science), notably on his reference to Mendel. Finally, I will address the tension between the conceptual and the empirical dimension of philosophical scholarship., Author(s): Hub Zwart [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.6906.9, 0000000092621349, Dean Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, , Bayle Building/Room J5-65/Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062, Rotterdam, PA, The Netherlands Introduction I [...]

This paper develops a dialectical methodology for assessing technoscience during the Anthropocene. How to practice Hegelian dialectics of technoscience today? First of all, dialectics is developed here in close interaction with contemporary technoscientific research endeavours, which are addressed from a position of proximity and from an 'oblique' perspective. Contrary to empirical (sociological or ethnographical) research, the focus is on how basic concepts of life, nature and technology are acted out in practice. Notably, this paper zooms in on a synthetic cell project called BaSyC as a concrete instantiation of converging views of life, nature and technology currently at work in technoscience. While dialectics is used to explore the significance of this project (of this 'experience' in the dialectical sense), the synthetic cell as a case study also allows us to demonstrate the remarkable relevance of dialectics for understanding contemporary research, notably because it incites us to see the synthetic cell project as a concrete exemplification of life under Anthropocenic conditions. Should we assess the synthetic cell as the ultimate realisation of the technoscientific will to control and optimise life, or rather as an effort to bridge the disruptive collision between technoscience and nature, or both?, Author(s): Hub Zwart [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.6906.9, 0000000092621349, Dean Erasmus School of Philosophy, Erasmus University Rotterdam, , Bayle Building, Room J5-65, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, 3062 PA, Rotterdam, Netherlands Introduction: [...]