May
Lecture: "Historical perspectives on the concept of life" with Professor David Dunér
Welcome to a public evening lecture with David Dunér, professor in history of science and ideas at Lund University. In his talk, David will provide an overview of human conceptualizations of life – from Antiquity to the present – and talk about the long-lasting human endeavour to find the essence of life.
Programme, 6 May
Place: Lecture hall B at Kemicentrum, Sölvegatan 39, Lund.
19:00–19:45 Lecture “Historical perspectives on the concept of life” with David Dunér.
19:45–20:00 Discussion and time for questions.
20:00 Networking/mingle.
No registration needed.
More about the lecture
The concept of life has through the ages been defined in many various ways, each focused on specific characteristics that have been connected to something, whether physical or non-physical existence or process, that sustain life and that humans understand or interpret as constitutive for something being alive. Commonly one has identified life with certain organs, the heart, the lungs or the brain, as something existing, something material, with chemical, essential properties, such as organic molecules, and in contrast to that, as a process, something that moves, changes, is becoming something, through fermentation, vital heat or motion. The concept of life is inextricably linked to a changeable world and the world-views and self-understanding of the human being. The biological concept of life is thus connected to philosophical, theological, cultural, societal and political concepts of life.
This lecture gives an overview of human conceptualizations of ‘life’ from Antiquity to the present, about the long-lasting human endeavour to find the essence of life.
David Dunér is professor in history of science and ideas at the Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences at Lund University.
Read more about David Dunér (kultur.lu.se)
About the organizer
This event is organised by COMMONS – a Center of Excellence with the theme "Commonalities in biomembrane and biomolecular interactions”. The center has an ambition to disseminate the research frontiers in the research field not only to the general public, but to bridge the natural science in focus with social sciences and humanities via the platform Academic Forum, which this lecture is a part of.
About the event
Location:
Lecture hall B at Kemicentrum, Sölvegatan 39 in Lund.
Contact:
felix [dot] roosen-runge [at] fkem1 [dot] lu [dot] se