Lisa Heldke: Pragmatist Philosophical Reflections on GMOs

[Original Abstract from Lecture]

The public debate about GMO technologies in the United States highlights the power of sharply dichotomizing thinking, as well as its limits. This lecture draws on the work of Michel Serres, who uses the concept of the parasite to reconstruct or reframe fundamental dichotomies in western philosophy; it attempts a similar reframing of the public debates about GMOs (beyond emotionally charged but factually-suspect concept pairs like '"'real' food/'fake' food", "un/healthy", "local/cosmopolitan"). The purpose of such a reframing is to create possibilities for dialogue among participants that will move beyond the polarization that characterizes much of the current debate in the US, to help move the conversation on to answering important questions about expanding access to safe, secure, nutritious food.