Evidence Practices at the Interstice of Sciences, Humantities, and the Public: The Anthropo-cene Debate

2000年，大气化学家保罗·J·克鲁岑和湖沼学家尤金·F. Stoermer在国际地圈-生物圈计划的一份通讯中介绍了人类世一词，他们发起了一场科学辩论，并迅速获得了动力。今天，人类世已经成为众多学术团体之间有争议的话题。地质科学委托一个专家委员会，人类世工作组，任务是调查以人类命名的新地质时代理论的科学证据。这一争论早已超越了自然科学和生命科学的范畴，在人文学科中得到了广泛的讨论。此外，人类世已成为大众媒体以及其他利益相关者（如科学博物馆和艺术画廊）领导的公共辩论的问题。该项目在三个相互关联的层面上审查证据实践：在地质、生物和地球系统科学中，将人类世作为一个地质概念进行讨论;在人文和社会科学中，将人类世作为一个文化概念进行辩论;在（媒介化）公众中，将人类世理解为一种社会现象。这些层面的错综复杂的纠缠带来了新的挑战，迫使社会行为者离开其特定的竞技场，与其他行为者群体谈判证据做法。自然与文化、人类与地球、环境与社会之间的界限变得模糊，长期形成的知识生产学科文化也变得模糊，迫使行为体重新思考证据实践的传统核心假设。人类世的辩论正在发展成为一个交易区，不仅是为了谈判关于地球上人类的现在和未来的基本问题，而且是证据实践和实践证据的概念。该项目旨在调查在关于人类世的科学和公众辩论间隙的证据实践的形式和惯例。

When in the year 2000, atmospheric chemist Paul J. Crutzen and limnologist Eugene F. Stoermer introduced the term Anthropocene in a newsletter of the International Geosphere- Biosphere Program, they launched a scientific debate which quickly gained momentum. Today, the Anthropocene has become a controversial talking point among numerous academic communities. The geological sciences commissioned an expert committee, the Anthropocene Working Group, with the task of investigating the scientific evidence for the theory of a new geological epoch named after humanity. The debate has long since transcended the realm of the natural and life sciences and is widely discussed in the humanities. In addition, the Anthropocene has become an issue of public debate led by the mass media, as well as other stakeholders, such as science museums, and art galleries. The project examines the evidence practices on three interrelated levels: in the geo-, bio-, and earth systems sciences, which discuss the Anthropocene as a geological concept; in the humanities and social sciences, which debate the Anthropocene as a cultural concept; and in the (medialized) public, which understands the Anthropocene as a societal phenomenon. The intricate entanglement of these levels has given rise to new challenges and forced societal actors to leave their particular arena in order to negotiate evidence practices with other actor groups. Boundaries between nature and culture, humans and the Earth, and environment and society become blurred, as do long established disciplinary cultures of knowledge production, forcing actors to rethink traditional core assumptions of evidence practices. The Anthropocene debate is developing into a trading zone not only for negotiating basic questions about the present and future of humans on Earth, but also concepts of evidencing practice and practicing evidence. The project aims to investigate the forms and routines of evidence practices at the interstices of the scientific and public debates about the Anthropocene.