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SUMMARY:Cultural groups\, essentialism\, and ontic risk - Andrew Buskell (
 Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
DTSTART:20211028T143000Z
DTEND:20211028T160000Z
UID:TALK163126@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Richard Staley
DESCRIPTION:"Register to attend in person":https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/
 hps-departmental-seminar-tickets-196476595787\n\nThe comparative study of 
 cultural groups – _ethnology_ – experienced a dramatic reversal of for
 tune in the twentieth century. Though initially central to the field\, by 
 the millennium's end many in social anthropology had not only abandoned et
 hnology but also adopted sceptical attitudes toward the culture concept (a
 nd those nearby\, like 'cultural group'). The opposite seems true for the 
 social sciences\, which increasingly adopted both the culture concept and 
 comparative methods over the same period of time. The study of cultural gr
 oups is now in an unusual epistemological situation: researchers in one se
 t of disciplines take themselves to have repudiated the comparative study 
 of cultural groups and the culture concept\, yet in another\, researchers 
 take these to be critical for ongoing empirical work. What are we to make 
 of such a situation?\n\nThis talk considers some longstanding metaphysical
  critiques of ethnology. These are concerns around a supposed 'essentializ
 ing' tendency of comparative cultural work. This 'essentializing' is taken
  to be bad scientific practice\, leading to wrongheaded characterizations 
 of human populations and empirically unprincipled research. I’ll be argu
 ing that these concerns are not as serious as they appear. If contemporary
  work is 'essentialist' in some way\, it is not the kind of 'essentialism'
  that should trouble critics. Yet I'll suggest there is a more pressing ki
 nd of metaphysical worry for the comparative social scientist: what Joeri 
 Witteveen has called _ontic risk_. Choices around how cultural groups are 
 ontologized (in models\, theoretical claims\, classifications) can generat
 e harms and costs for extant populations. While ontic risk does not repudi
 ate comparative social scientific work\, it does point to potentially seri
 ous consequences that should be considered in research design.
LOCATION:Mill Lane Lecture Room 9 and Zoom
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