Cosmology and cosmopolitanism describe two different types of knowledge or belief, one deriving from natural sciences, the other from the Humanities. Both discourses, each in its own epistemic frame, deal with concepts of cosmos, universe, globe, world, or planet. The conference explores the dynamic processes by which, on the one hand, cosmological ideas and, on the other hand, cultural, political, philosophical, or religious ideas have been affecting one another.
The conference is particularly sensitive to the role of the media in this exchange. It seeks to investigate how shifts in the history of media interact with epistemological and ideological changes - from the first telescopic observation of the solar system by Galileo in 1609, until our present age of digital astral photography, radio electronics, artificial satellites, and space travel, each time asking how new worldviews force us to reinvent ourselves as (post-)modern, (post-)enlightened, and (post-)global subjects.