BUCHAREST-PRINCETON SEMINAR IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY. De rerum natura: Naturalism, Supernaturalism, Unnaturalism Organized by the Research Centre for the Foundations of Modern Thought (FME), University of Bucharest, in collaboration with the Philosophy Department at Princeton University. 8 – 13 July 2014, Bran, Romania. This seminar is concerned with early-modern conceptions of nature in the broadest sense. We will inquire into definitions of the natural and of what lies beyond or goes against it within several quarters of early modern thought, from the late Renaissance up to the early eighteenth century. In line with the important influence that Lucretius’s great Epicurean poem, “De rerum natura,” had at the time, we will raise the issue of naturalism, and attempts in figures as diverse as Cardano, Telesio, Bacon, Hobbes, or Spinoza to explain everything or nearly everything in naturalistic terms. The Epicurean, as well as Stoic and Platonic, influences are also at work in the traditions of natural history, from Pliny to Bacon and beyond, as well as in the new trends of medicine, natural magic, astrology, and alchemy, where reflections on the scope of the natural went hand in hand with practical thinking about technological and experimental intervention into nature. Drawing the boundaries of the natural and exploring the territory of the un-natural, preter-natural or contra-natural (whether in the form of ghosts, demons, monsters, or diseases) was also a powerful early modern concern. The Seminar will take place in Bran, a small mountain resort near Brasov, in Transylvania. It will be hosted in a small, friendly Bed and Breakfast (single or double rooms). The participation fee is 150 EUR for faculty and 90 EUR for students (covering accommodation with breakfast). We invite applications for contributions (from researchers) and for attendance (from students). If you want to contribute a paper, please send a CV and a one-page abstract, and if you want to attend, a CV and a letter of intent – by April 20 – to Vlad Alexandrescu (valexandrescu@gmail), Dana Jalobeanu ([email protected])
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:04:18 +0000
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