Nils Guettler: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2020

Name	PD Dr. Nils Guettler
Field	History of science and environmental history
Address	Professur für Wissenschaftsforsch. ETH Zürich, RZ G 9.1 Clausiusstrasse 59 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND
E-mail	nils.guettler@wiss.gess.ethz.ch
Department	Humanities, Social and Political Sciences
Relationship	Privatdozent

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
061-0103-00L	Ecology and Plant Sciences Only for Landscape Architecture MSc. Course languages are English and German.	2 credits	3G	T. Galí-Izard, N. Buchmann, C. Buser Moser, A. Gessler, N. Guettler, A. Guggisberg, F. Kienast, M. Lévesque, A. Rudow, B. Wehrli
Abstract	This course introduces ecology and plant sciences. Through lectures, exercises and excursions, students will gain a broad vision of the cutting edge topics that are being researched and studied at the Department of Environmental Systems Science at ETH, Eawag, WSL and others. This will be the base for a future dialog between the field of landscape architecture and the field of sciences.
Learning objective	Students acquire basic knowledge in ecology and plant sciences focusing in its application in the field of landscape architecture. Temporal and physical scale, research methods, units of measurement, lexicon, modes of representation and critical literature form the framework for the joint discourse. Students will develop a graphic language in order to integrate this knowledge into design.
Content	The fundamental course “Ecology and Plant Sciences” is an introduction to the field of living systems, starting with the history of ecology, followed by an introduction to general terrestrial ecology, plant systematics, taxonomy, evolutionary biology, and basic notions of landscape ecology. A more specific approach to Swiss ecologies will follow with a concentration on grassland systems, aquatic systems and forests. Finally, the course focus on the specifics tree structure and function, and plant physiology.
Lecture notes	Course material will be provided.
Literature	The course material includes a reading list.
Prerequisites / Notice	The fundamental course is organized with the Fundamental Studio I as a joint two-week module. The weekly schedule is provided with the course documents. Module 4 "Ecology and plant systems", 5.10.-16.10.20 The course is held in English or German.
851-0091-00L	Science and Activism	3 credits	2S	N. Guettler
Abstract	How political may or must science be? In view of the climate crisis and COVID-19, the relationship between politics and science is once again the topic of an intensiv public debate. The seminar offers a historical view on the current situation. The focus is on the 1970s and 1980s, when many of today's problems were already announced and negotiated.
Learning objective	The seminar focuses on the joint reading and discussion of original sources and secondary texts on the history of the relationship between politics, activism and science. The central working tool is the newly developed source collection "cache" (cache.ch). With this collection, students become acquainted with important stages of the "counter-knowledge" of the 1970s and 1980s, such as the establishment of alternative research institutes, communication platforms or international political networks. Through research on individual thematic complexes, but also on specific sources and actors, students develop the competence to work critically with original texts and research literature on the history of political activism. In doing so, they expand their knowledge both independently and in groups. In the second half of the seminar, the focus is on applying the knowledge gained in the seminar: The students write small (initially fictitious) blog posts and discuss them with each other. Selected contributions are published on entropie.ethz.ch and/or the blog of "cache".
Literature	Stadler, Max, Nils Güttler, Niki Rhyner, et. al. Gegen\|Wissen. Zürich: intercom, 2020. cache.ch.