Lecture
SG | Under Pressure: Attention Shortage?
Do you find yourself paying far too much attention to some things and scrambling to pay enough attention to others?
Studium Generale Open Mind Lab lecture series explores stress, perfection and the frenzy for attention
Do you find yourself paying far too much attention to some things and scrambling to pay enough attention to others? And what about the companies that are constantly vying for your attention, and then making money out of it? Everyone seems to compete for attention and try to stand out above the rest in that extra special way, be it online or in a race to the top for the ideal career. What is going on if everybody is caught up in frenzy for attention? Prof. Cor van der Weele (WUR, Humanistic Philosophy) reflects on social attention through the lens of philosophy and critical cultural studies. Explore attention as a societal phenomenon. From business models in the attention economy to dimensions of identity, she will provide insights into mechanisms of social attention, wonder how they have been eluding us, and look at aspects of attention scarcity and quality for societies of the future.
About Cor van der Weele
Cor van der Weele holds the special chair of humanistic philosophy at Wageningen University. She has a background in biology and in philosophy and focuses on boundary areas between them. She gives the course 'Selective attention and ethics' which starts from human experience in times when attention shortage might seem like an epidemic. She aims to go beyond the cognitive scarcity approach (not enough attention) in order to develop a more integrative philosophical view that includes emotional and social aspects. Her other work as a professor of philosophy within WUR also features a special interest in cultured meat as part of the protein transition. In publications on ambivalence and strategic ignorance, she has approached processes of change concerning meat through phenomena of selective attention.