MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

Dec 2, 2025
The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of the Wicked Problem. Plurality and the Production of Knowledge, 1966-Present

From the late 1960s, intellectuals throughout the world thought stable structures of knowledge had fractured, amidst apparently ungovernable political and epistemological pluralism. This paper argues that pluralism was the dominant problem framing political and social science thinking throughout the 1970s, driving multiple rival intellectual approaches, from neoliberal economics to epistemological anarchy to a number of different approaches to artificial intelligence. It will trace how approaches designed to address the apparent problems of a particular historical moment have shaped the way we created knowledge since.

Speaker's Biography

  • Jon Wilson
    Scholar's Profile

    Jon Wilson is a historian of politics and knowledge in South Asia and (sometimes) the world beyond. He is the author of The Domination of Strangers and India Conquered. Out of Chaos. A Global History of the Nation State, which will be published in July 2026. He is Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, and Professor of History at NTU Singapore, where he’s been supporting the development of the Max Planck NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding. Before moving to Singapore in 2025, he taught at King’s College London for 25 years.

Organizer(s)
Address
MPIWG, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Room
Room 265
Contact and Registration

This event will take place in person and registration is not required.

2025-12-02T11:30:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2025-12-02 11:30:00 2025-12-02 12:50:00 The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of the Wicked Problem. Plurality and the Production of Knowledge, 1966-Present From the late 1960s, intellectuals throughout the world thought stable structures of knowledge had fractured, amidst apparently ungovernable political and epistemological pluralism. This paper argues that pluralism was the dominant problem framing political and social science thinking throughout the 1970s, driving multiple rival intellectual approaches, from neoliberal economics to epistemological anarchy to a number of different approaches to artificial intelligence. It will trace how approaches designed to address the apparent problems of a particular historical moment have shaped the way we created knowledge since. Speaker's Biography Jon Wilson Scholar's Profile Jon Wilson is a historian of politics and knowledge in South Asia and (sometimes) the world beyond. He is the author of The Domination of Strangers and India Conquered. Out of Chaos. A Global History of the Nation State, which will be published in July 2026. He is Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, and Professor of History at NTU Singapore, where he’s been supporting the development of the Max Planck NTU Singapore Centre for Biocultural Worlding. Before moving to Singapore in 2025, he taught at King’s College London for 25 years. MPIWG, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany Room 265 Anna Lisa Ahlers Anna Lisa Ahlers Europe/Berlin public