Open Journal of Humanities (Apr 2021)
Le 'due culture' ibride. Note su linguaggi e spazi virtuali [The hybrid 'two cultures'. Notes on languages and virtual spaces]
Abstract
When C. P. Snow delivered the Rede Lecture at the Senate House of the University of Cambridge in 1959, the focal point of his speech was the academic specialization which has determined incommunicability and misunderstanding between scientists and humanists, the “two cultures”. The debate on the “the two cultures” is still open. In a constantly evolving cultural and technological scenario, research in the field of Digital Humanities and some applications of Machine Learning requires a new approach to the concept of «two cultures» as long as it also includes a reflection on the so-called third culture and on the new network of relations between sciences. In the following pages we will try to consider the extent of the hybridization of humanistic culture and scientific culture as a possibility to overcome the problem identified by Snow. The reconstruction of the theme as it was placed by Snow, with attention to its Italian reception in the philosophical field, will highlight two aspects: on the one hand, the centrality of science as language and its relationship with the social context; on the other, the relevance of the theme of spaces and places of knowledge. These aspects will lead to a “synthetic” idea of «third culture» as an element to be evaluated in future research.
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