Zur Person

Biography and Bibliography

I. Personal Data

NAME: Helmut F. Spinner.
University of Karlsruhe
Institute of Philosophy

HOME ADDRESS:
Schwabenweg 28
D-68782 Bruehl (South West Germany, near Mannheim)
Phone (+496202)72385, Fax (+496202) 927641
E-mail: Helmut.Spinner@geist-soz.uni-karlsruhe.de
HOMEPAGE: www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~Helmut. Spinner

NATIONALITY: German.

II. Scientific Status and Former Positions at the University of Karlsruhe/Germany

a) Professor of Philosophy, specialized in Philosophy of Science and Technology (since 1987).

b) Director of the STUDIUM GENERALE, a central Institution of the University (1987-2002).

c) Director of the GERMAN-RUSSIAN COLLEGE, established in 1995 as a transnational institute for postgraduate studies in three academic fields: Philosophy of Science and Technology; Economic Sciences; Environmental Sciences (1995-2002).

d) Co-Director of the INSTITUTE OF PHILOSOPHY (1987-2002; continuing membership).

e) Co-Director of the INTERFACULTY INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED CULTURAL SCIENCES (1995-2000; continuing membership)

III. Memberships in Academic Associations

a) Allgemeine Gesellschaft für Philosophie in Deutschland.

b) Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie.

c) Heinrich Hertz Gesellschaft der Universität Karlsruhe.

d) Karlsruher Universitätsgesellschaft.

e) European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Wien, Austria).

IV. Biography

BIRTH: January 28th, 1937, Offenburg/Germany.

STUDIES: Economics, Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology at the Universities of Mannheim, Cologne and Heidelberg/Germany.

DEGREES: 1970 Dr. phil.; 1979 Habilitation for Philosophy of Science and Sociology of Science; and 1983 for Sociology.

FELLOWSHIP: 1970/71 First >European Leverhulme Research Fellow< at the University of London/The London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Philosophy.

V. University Teaching and Research Activities

1970-1987 at the Universities of Mannheim, Bamberg, Gießen, Heidelberg, and Marburg (all Germany);

1970/71 University of London/ LSE, Departement of Philosophy.

1987-2002 University of Karlsruhe/Germany.

PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ORIENTATION:

Intellectual development from Critical Rationalism (Popper) to Epistemological Pluralism (Feyerabend) and Scientific Cognitivism. Interested in all questions about >knowledge of all sorts, in any quantity and quality< within and beyond science (e. g., media). Interdisciplinary work in the intersections of philosophy of science and technology, sociology, economics, psychology, cultural studies, cognitive sciences.

MAIN FIELDS:

Philosophy of Science and Technology; Interdisciplinary Science Studies; Philosophy of the Information Age; Science Policy and University Studies; Institutions of Higher Learning; Cognitive Technology (>Wissenstechniken<); Order of Knowledge; Information Society. General Theory of Knowledge. Cognitive Division of Labour.

RESEARCH TOPICS, CONTRIBUTIONS:

A new theory of dual rationality (>Doppelvernunft<); investigatons into the order of knowledge (>Wissensordnung<; Cognitive Order in comparison to Legal and Economic Orders) for all cognitive realms of society; a new theory of knowledge-styles (Erkenntnisstile); scientific and societal problem solving; scientific ethos; information ethics; internal (within science), external (between science and society) and intergenerational (by teaching) scientific communication; public science and science journalism; information and communication technologies (basic research and applications, technology assessment); institutional studies about modern (in Germany: Humboldtian) University and science policy.

RESEARCH PROJECTS AND SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS:

a) Dual Rationality Structures of Science, Society and History (supported by the DEUTSCHE FORSCHUNGSGEMEINSCHAFT).

b) The Changing Order of Knowledge in Information Societies (supported by the VOLKSWAGEN-STIFTUNG);

c) Kinds and Styles of Knowledge; Modern Forms of Science.

d) Legal Orders, Economic Orders and Knowledge Orders in Comparison.

e) The German (Humboldtian) Idea of University, past and present.

f) Technology Assessment, with Special Reference to Information- and Communication Technologies.

g) Scientific Ethos and Information Ethics.

h) Internal, External and Intergenerational Scientific Communication; Transfer of Scientific Knowledge to Society; Public Science and Science Journalism.

VI. Organization of Conferences

(1) From Industrial Society to Information Society (1986, supported by the FREE ACADEMY, Berlin/ Germany).

(2) Orders of Knowledge in Science and Society (1992, supported by the WERNER REIMERS STIFTUNG, Bad Homburg/Germany).

(3) A New Order of Knowledge of the Information Society (1995, IPTS/ Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, Sevilla/ Spain; Supported by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION).

(4) Aging and Death in the Modern World (1996, supported by the FREE ACADEMY, Berlin /Germany).

(5) The Framing and Infrastructure of Information Society (1997, supported by the VOLKSWAGEN STIFTUNG).

(6) A New Approach for Unified Knowledge Studies: Kinds and Concepts of Knowledge, Old and New Orders of Knowledge, Cognitive Division of Labour in Knowledge Societies (supported by the UNIVERSITY OF KARLSRUHE, GERMANY).

VII. Bibliography (books only)

- Pluralismus als Erkenntnismodell (1974);

- Begründung, Kritik und Rationalität (1977);

- Popper und die Politik (1978);

- Ist der kritische Rationalismus am Ende? (1982);

- Das >wissenschaftliche Ethos< als Sonderethik des Wissens (1985);

- Problemlösungsprozesse (1987ff.);

- Die Wissensordnung (1994);

- Der ganze Rationalismus einer Welt von Gegensätzen (1994);

- Die Architektur der Informationsgesellschaft (1998);

- Bausteine zu einer neuen Informationsethik (co-authors Michael Nagenborg and Karsten Weber).

- Knowledge-based Problem-Solving Process (2002, in print).

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