GLOSSARY - Making Sense of Nature - page 286

GLOSSARY
Aesthetics One of the so-called 'three faculties', it pertains to human
emotions and the study thereof. An aesthetic experience occurs when we
see, hear, smell or touch something and it elicits some sort of emotional
response from us - pleasure, pain, euphoria, disgust, fear and so on. This
'something' can be a manufactured object (e.g. a painting), a special site
(e.g. a visit to Lourdes) or some aspect of the non-human world (e.g. an
ascent of Mount Everest). See also cognition and morality.
Ambivalent categories Words whose meanings contain diverse, often
contradictory elements. For instance, whereas 'black' and 'white' are
antonyms (mutually exclusive), a word such as 'human' bridges the
'nature and society' dualism. Ambivalent categories challenge the otherwise
dichotomous vocabulary Westerners use to make sense of the world.
Audiencing The process whereby a particular act of one-to-many com-
munication (e.g. a television programme or university seminar) is intended
for, and helps to reproduce, a specific kind of audience. Audiences do not
exist prior to being addressed. On the contrary, the various ways they are
addressed calls forth audiences.
Biosociality A mode of thinking about oneself and one's relations with
others that accents biological characteristics, such as one's genes, skin colour
or susceptibility to certain illnesses.
Citizen science Any form of systematic inquiry and resulting informa-
tion or knowledge that's conducted by ordinary people who don't belong
to the epistemic communities normally tasked to undertake such inquiry.
Often, citizen scientists are 'auto-didacts' who learn about science in a
given domain by reading the works of credentialised practitioners. Citi-
zen scientists enter the scientific process 'mid-stream', rather than simply
'upstream' or 'downstream'. They can play a wide variety of roles in shaping
the conduct or results of scientific inquiry.
Civil society The various relations between citizens designed to promote
(or address) certain causes, goals and issues. Civil society is part of the public
sphere but not synonymous with it. It comprises things like community
organisations, non-governmental organisations and new social movements.