CURRICULUM VITÆ

GRIGORE VIDA

grigore.vida@gmail.com

EDUCATION

2007: BA in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy (University of Bucharest)

2008: MA in Philosophy, Faculty of Philosophy (University of Bucharest)

2008–: PhD Student in Philosophy, Doctoral School of Philosophy (University of Bucharest); Thesis: “Between philosophia naturalis and Naturphilosophie” (with prof. I. Pârvu)

LANGUAGES

English, German, French

RESEARCH INTERESTS

History of philosophy and history of science in the 17^th and 18^th century; natural philosophy and metaphysics/philosophy of nature; scientifically minded philosophers (Descartes, Leibniz, Kant); Newton’s metaphysics, theology and alchemy

SCHOLARSHIPS

2008–2011: POSDRU scholarship for doctoral studies (University of Bucharest)

2009: CEEPUS scholarship at Institut für Philosophie (University of Vienna)

AFFILIATION

2010: Member of the Research Centre “Foundations of Modern Thought” (University of Bucharest)

ARTICLES

“The Problem of Esotericism in Bacon’s Science” in Studii de ştiinţă şi cultură 4 (2010), pp. 133-143

PAPERS & TALKS

2005, December: “Who is afraid of Analytic Philosophy?” at the workshop One Philosophy, two Perspectives (“Babeş-Bolyai” University, Cluj)

2009, February: “The Force of Gravity in the Context of Mechanical Philosophy” at the seminar of the Research Centre “Foundations of Modern Thought” (New Europe College, Bucharest)

March: “Mechanical Philosophy and the Science of Mechanics in Descartes” at the Bucharest Colloquium in Early Modern Philosophy: Beyond Kuhnian Paradigms (New Europe College/ University of Bucharest)

December: “Newton on Matter Theory and the «Vanishing Bodies»” at the CELFIS seminar (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest)

2010, May: “Isaac Newton on the Ether” at the Bucharest Graduate Conference (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest)

July: “Newton’s Theory of Matter” at the Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, 10^th edition (Bran)

December: “The Problem of Esotericism in Bacon’s Science” at the conference Knowledge and Action (North University, Baia Mare) and also at the seminar of the Department for Theoretical Philosophy (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest)

The Research Centre in Logic, History and Philosophy of Science is a relatively young and active research division involving faculty, graduate students and associated researchers working with a large number of research programmes. It is hosted by the Department of Philosophy, University of Bucharest. This year, CELFIS is organising a special Seminar in History and Philosophy of Science, Thursdays, from 5 pm.

The CELFIS seminar in early modern philosophy will have this year three types of activities:

1. invited talks: Invited speakers will give formal or informal talks based mainly on work in progress. There will be ample time for discussions. Student participation is warmly encouraged.
2. reading groups: organised by Dana Jalobeanu and Mihnea Dobre. If you wish to attend, write to dana.jalobeanu@gmail.com, and/or mihneadobre@yahoo.com to get the reading materials. Each meeting will be organised as a presentation of the subject followed by discussions on the required reading.
3. courses: some of the invited speakers will give lectures as well, mostly for the MA students in history and philosophy of science. Participation of all students, however, is warmly encouraged.

21 October – 17.00 (CELFIS)

Reading group

Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest): Teoria materiei la Francis Bacon

Texts : Cogitationes de natura rerum, Sylva Sylvarum (fragments)

5 November – 16.00-20.00 (CRM)

Lecture (in the MA Course : From natural philosophy to Newtonian Physics): Francis Bacon in the history & philosophy of science: the history of a character assassination

Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest), Guido Giglioni (Warburg Institute, London)

Readings for the seminar: Preface to the Great Instauration, Novum Organum, part I (fragments), part II (fragments)

6 November – 18.00, MF

Guido Giglioni (Warburg Institute, University of London): How did Bacon become a Baconian?

13 November – 18.00, MF

Eric Schliesser (University of Ghent), Isaac Newton’s Challenge to philosophy

19 November – 17.00

Reading group

Doina Rusu (PhD Student, University of Bucharest): Bacon and alchemy

Texts: Sylva Sylvarum (fragments), Thema coeli

25 November – 17.00

Reading group

Mihnea Dobre (University of Bucharest): Natural history and the nature of bodies in Bacon’s Historia densi et rari

Texts: Bacon, Historia densi et rari, fragments

3 December – 18.00, MF

Silvia Manzo (Max Plank Institute, Berlin): Mythology and Holy Write in Bacon\’s natural philosophy

9 December – 17.00

Reading group

Grigore Vida (University of Bucharest): Isaac Newton on matter theory and the “vanishing bodies”

Texts : De gravitatione et equipondio fluidorum, and other fragments (TBA

Sorin Costreie
Lecturer, Philosophy Department
University of Bucharest

Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of language, philosophy of mathematics, philosophical logic

Areas of Competence
Logic, philosophy of science, metaphysics, epistemology, critical thinking; history of philosophy (especially early analytic and Leibniz).

Education

Ph.D. (ABD) – University of Western Ontario (in progress; completion expected Summer 2009)

Ph.D. – University of Bucharest (2007)

M.A. – University of Bucharest (1997)

B.A. – University of Bucharest (1996)


Publications

Books

* (with D. Stefanescu and A. Miroiu) Logic and Argumentation (Humanitas, 2004)

Chapters in books

* “T. Campanella- La Città del Sole”, Dictionary of fundamental political works, Humanitas, 2000; pp. 68-76.

Articles

* “Mathematics and Biology. Applicability and predictability”. The Ontology and Epistemology of socio-natural systems, Trei Publishing House, forthcoming
* “Leibniz and Clarke. Physics, Metaphysics and Mathematics”, The NEC Yearbook 2006-2007, New Europe College, forthcoming
* “Is really David Lewis a Realist?”, Ontology Studies/Cuadernos de Ontologia, Nr. 8, San Sebastian, Spain, 2008, pp. 127-138
* “Proper names: Mill, Russell and Frege”, Proceedings of the International Conference ‘John Stuart Mill. 1806-2006, University of Bucharest, November 3rd-4th, 2006, University of Bucharest Press, 2007, pp. 291-311
* “The short long life of Russell’s denoting concepts”, Teorema, XXIV/3, 2005, pp. 97-113
* “Leibniz on Miracles”, Arches- Revue Internationale des Sciences Humaines, Tome 7, 2004, pp. 63-8
* “Leibniz’s Constructivism”, Revue Roumaine de Philosophie, 47(1-2), 2003, pp. 67-81
* “Bertrand Russell & the Theory of Denotative Concepts”, Revista de Filosofie, XLIX, sept.-dec. 5-6, 2002, pp. 641-656
* “The New Theory of Reference. Problems and Solutions concerning Proper Names”, Proceedings of The 2nd Annual Conference on Logic and Reasoning, July 2000, NEC Institute for Advanced Studies, Bucharest; pp.69-81
* “Possibility by Leibniz”, Krisis – Journal of Philosophy, 7, 1999; pp. 101-116
* “Identity & Possible Worlds”, Krisis – Journal of Philosophy, 2, 1995; pp. 59-64

Presentations

* “Leibniz on void and matter”, Focus group – The Research group on the foundations of European modernity-NEC, December 2008, Bucharest, Romania
* “Newton and Leibniz. Physics vs. Metaphysics”, Bucharest-Princeton Seminar, July-August 2008, Malancrav, Romania
* “Mathematics and Biology: predictability and applicability”, Workshop on Theoretical and Methodological Fundamentals in the modeling and dynamics of complex socio-human systems, University of Bucharest, Centre for logic, history and philosophy of science, February 2007, Bucharest, Romania
* “Leibniz’ labyrinth or the mathematical analysis of the world”, Seminar New Europe College, December 2006, Bucharest, Romania
* “Proper Names: Mill, Russell, Frege”, International Conference. John Stuart Mill 1806-2006, University of Bucharest – New Europe College, November 2006, Bucharest, Romania
* “David Lewis’ ontology or how could a Nominalist be called Realist?”, VII International Ontology Congress. From Plato’s cave to the Internet: The real and the Virtual, October 2006, San Sebastian, Spain
* “Leibniz’s intuitionism”, Seminar on Early Modern Philosophy. The great instauration: science, philosophy and the reformation of knowledge in 17th century — Research Centre for Foundations of Early Modern Thought (Princeton University & University of Bucharest), July 2005, Bran, Romania
* “The epistemological difficulty of Russell’s theory of denoting concepts”, American Philosophical Association – Eastern Division, December 2003 / Washington, USA
* “B. Russell – Theory of Knowledge (1900-1905)”, International Conference on ‘Theory of Knowledge’, Black Sea University & Romanian Academy, September 2003 / Bucharest, Romania
* “Leibniz’s constructivism”, 12th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, August 2003 / Oviedo, Spain
* “The Epistemological Difficulty of Russell’s Theory of Denoting Concepts”, Canadian Philosophical Association, Dalhousie University, May-June 2003 / Halifax, Canada
* “Leibniz’s Constructivism”, Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, Dalhousie University, May-June 2003 / Halifax, Canada
* “Leibniz’s Account of Infinity and His Philosophy of Mathematics”, Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics, Dalhousie University, May-June 2003 / Halifax, Canada
* “Leibniz on Miracles”, International Philosophy Workshop on ‘Constructions’, October 2001 Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Canada
* “Leibniz on Miracles”, The 7th International Leibniz Congress, Technical University Berlin, September 2001 / Berlin, Germany
* “The New Theory of Reference: Problems and Difficulties”, International Conference on ‘Logic, Arguments and Reasoning’, New Europe College, July 2000 / Bucharest, Romania
* “The Logic of Essentialism”, 11th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, August 1999 / Krakow, Poland
* “Frege\’s Ontology“, University of Bonn, Institute for Logic and Fundamental Research, June 1998 / Bonn, Germany
* “Observation and Theory according to Newton-Smith”, Romanian Academy, October 1995 / Bucharest, Romania
* “Possible Worlds- A Critical Investigation”, 10th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, August 1995 / Florence, Italy


Teaching experience

(UB = University of Bucharest, UWO = University of Western Ontario)

2008-2009

UB – Philosophy of mathematics (Phil 331) / Tutorial Leader

UB – Philosophy of language (Phil. 220) / Instructor

UB – Ontology of Science (MA) / Instructor

2007-2008

UWO – Introduction to logic (Phil. 131) / Instructor

2006-2007

UB – Philosophical Logic (Phil. 330) / Instructor

UB – First-Order Logic (Phil. 123) / Tutoril leader

UB – Ontology (Phil. 440) / Instructor

UB – Extension of first-order logic (Phil. 124) / Tutorial leader

UB – Philosophy of language (Phil.220) / Instructor

UB – Introduction to epistemology (Phil.110) / Tutorial leader

2005-2006

UB – Philosophy of language (Phil.220) / Instructor

UB – Introduction to epistemology (Phil.110) / Tutorial leader

UWO – Introduction to logic (Phil.131) / Instructor

2004-2005

UB – Philosophy of language (Phil.220) / Instructor

UB – Introduction to epistemology (Phil.110) / Tutorial leader

UWO – Death (Phil. 153F) / Grader

2003-2004

UB – Philosophy of language (Phil.220) / Tutorial Leader

UB – Introduction to epistemology (Phil.110) / Tutorial leader

2002-2003

UWO – Introduction to logic (Phil. 212) / Grader

UWO – Introduction to logic (Phil. 222a) / Grader

2001-2002

UWO – Introduction to logic (Phil. 131) / Instructor

2000-2001

UWO – Questions of the day (Phil. 023G) / Grader

UWO – Death (Phil. 153F) / Grader

1999-2000

UB – Meta-Logic (Phil. 350) / Tutorial leader

UB – Modal Logic (Phil. 340) / Tutorial Leader

1998-1999

UB – Introduction into epistemology (Phil.110) / Tutorial leader

UB – Philosophical Logic (Phil. 330) / Tutorial Leader

Administrative positions

since August 2008 – chief of the Department of Quality Management, UB

since May 2008 – member of the council of Philosophy Department, UB

2007-2008 – representative of part-time instructors in the Council of Faculty of Arts, UWO

Awards

* 2003 nominated for Graduate Student Teaching Award

Scholarships and grants

* 2006-2007 New Europe College Scholarship
* 2004-2005 Ontario Graduate Scholarship
* 2003-2004 Ontario Graduate Scholarship + UWO-International Graduate Student Scholarship
* 2002-2003 Special University Scholarship + UWO-International Graduate Student Scholarship
* 2000-2002 President’s Scholarship for Graduate Studies + UWO-International Graduate Student Scholarship
* 2001 Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft grant supporting travel costs for attending the VII^th International Leibniz Congress, September 10-15th, 2001 / Technical University of Berlin
* 1999 World Bank grant as visiting scholar at University of Notre Dame & University of Pittsburgh in the framework of the research project: Understanding Complexity
* 1997-1998 Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) scholarship at University of Bonn for the research project: Frege\’s Ontology
* 1996 TEMPUS scholarship at University of Rome, La Sapienza
* 1993 Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) scholarship at University of Trier (Germany) for a German language summer school

Membership in Academic and Professional Organizations

* Member, American Philosophical Association (A.P.A.)
* Member, Canadian Philosophical Association (C.P.A.)
* Member, Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science (C.S.H.P.S.)
* Member, Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics (C.S.H.P.M.)
* Member, Romanian Society for Analytical Philosophy (S.R.F.A.)

Languages

* Fluent in Romanian, English, Italian and German
* Partial fluency in French and Spanish

Last update: february 2009

Lecturer, PhD

English Department, University of Bucharest

soranamihaela.corneanu@g.unibuc.ro, soranacorneanu@yahoo.com

PhD (2008), MA (1998), BA (1997) – University of Bucharest

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Early modern intellectual history (philosophy, theology and literature); philosophy and history of emotions; history of educational thought.

SCHOLARSHIPS, FELLOWSHIPS & RESEARCH TRAVEL GRANTS

July-Oct. 2012 Go8 European Fellowship, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Oct. 2011 Francis Bacon Fellowship, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California

Sept. 2010 Research travel grant, Paris, sponsored by the ERC starting grant MOM

Feb. 2010 Research travel grant, Oxford, sponsored by the ERC starting grant MOM

May 2008 Research travel grant, Oxford, sponsored by the University of Bucharest

April 2007 Research travel grant, London, sponsored by New Europe College

2006-2007 NEC Scholarship, New Europe College, Bucharest (doctoral research)

2005-2006 OSI/FCO Chevening Scholarship, Oxford, St. Hilda’s College (doctoral research)

MEMBERSHIP IN RESEARCH GRANTS

2009-2014 Member of European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant 241125 MOM Medicine of the Mind and the Reconfiguration of Natural Philosophy: A New Interpretation of Francis Bacon (PI: Prof. Guido Giglioni)

2009-2011 Member of Romanian Research Council (CNCSIS) grant IDEI-PCE (2008) 2067: Science, Politics and Utopia in the Republic of Letters (director of grant: Prof. Vlad Alexandrescu)

Member of Romanian Research Council (CNCSIS) grant IDEI-PCE (2008) 1980: The Cultural Institution of Literature from Early to Late Modernity (director of grant: Prof. Mihaela Irimia)

2008 Member of University of Bucharest research grant IDEI-UB (In)Hospitable Translations (director of grant: Prof. Mădălina Nicolaescu)

2007-2008 Member of the Central European University (CEU) Course Development Centre (CDC) grant Shaping the Republic of Letters: Philosophy, Science and Religion in the Seventeenth Century (director of grant: Prof. Dana Jalobeanu)

AFFILIATIONS

Since 2010 Member of HOPOS (International Society for the History of the Philosophy of Science)

Since 2007 Member of ISIH (International Society for Intellectual History)

Since 2005 Member of CESIC (Centre of Excellence for the Study of Cultural Identity), University of Bucharest

Since 2004 Member of SSOR (The Romanian Association for Eighteenth-Century Studies)

Since 2002 Member of FME (Foundations of European Modernity Research Centre), University of Bucharest

ACADEMIC EVENT ORGANISATION

May 2011 11^th International Society for Intellectual History Conference, Bucharest (co-organised with D. Jalobeanu)

2005-2011 The annual Bucharest-Princeton International Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy (member of organising team, with D. Garber, D. Jalobeanu, V. Alexandrescu, L. Petrescu, M. Dobre, S. Costreie)

March 2008 International Conference “Translation: Betrayal or Creative Statement”, funded by the research grant IDEI-UB (In)Hospitable translations, Bucharest (member of organising team, with M. Nicolaescu, O. Popescu, R. Visan, P. Naidut)

PUBLICATIONS

Books

Regimens of the Mind: Boyle, Locke, and the Early Modern Cultura Animi Tradition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011

Edited volumes

Francis Bacon and the Medicine of the Mind (working title), co-edited with Guido Giglioni and Dana Jalobeanu, special issue of Perspectives on Science, forthcoming 2012

Francis Bacon and Natural History (working title), co-edited with Guido Giglioni and Dana Jalobeanu, special issue of Early Science and Medicine, forthcoming 2012

(In)Hospitable Translations: Fidelities, Betrayals, Rewritings, co-edited with Madalina Nicolaescu, Bucuresti: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2010

Articles

“Idols of the Imagination: Francis Bacon on the Imagination and the Medicine of the Mind” (co-authored with Koen Vermeir), special issue of Perspectives on Science, forthcoming 2012

“Of Statues and Vines: Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis and the Question of Persuasion”, Studii de stiinta si cultura 4.23 (2010): 46-58

“Robert Boyle on ‘Right Reason’ and ‘Physical and Theological Experience’” in Vlad Alexandrescu and Robert Thais (eds.), Nature et Surnaturel: Philosophies de la nature et métaphysique aux XVIe-XVIIIe siècles, Hildesheim, Zurich, New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2010, 125-136

“Devout Affections: Theology, Medicine, and the Novel” in Mihaela Irimia and Dragos Ivana (eds.), Imitatio-Inventio: The Rise of ‘Literature’ from Early to Classic Modernity, Bucuresti: Editura Institutului Cultural Roman, 2010, 179-197

“Methods of Education”, “The Curriculum”, “Synopsis of Some Thoughts Concerning Education” in S.-J. Savonius-Wroth, P. Schuurman, and J.C. Walmsley (eds.), The Continuum Companion to Locke, London and New York: Thoemmes Continuum, 2010

“Locke on the Study of Nature” in Vlad Alexandrescu (ed.), Branching Off: The Early Moderns in Quest for the Unity of Knowledge, Bucharest: Zeta Books, 2009, 187-207

“To ‘Clear the Mind of All Perturbation’: The Discipline of Judgment in the Seventeenth Century”, New Europe College Yearbook 2006-2007, Bucharest: New Europe College, 2009, 57-94

“‘The Balance of the Mind’: Eighteenth-Century Reflections on Personal Identity across Disciplines” in M. Irimia and D. Ivana (eds.), Odisei (II): O cartografie identitara: Studii de caz, Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2009, 247-270

“The Theatrical Self from the Renaissance to the Eighteenth Century: Investigations into the Transformations of a Cultural Topos” in M. Irimia and D. Ivana (eds.), Odisei (I): Trasee conceptuale, Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2008, 17-32

“Self-consciousness, appropriation and the concern for happiness: Locke on personal identity” in A. Cornilescu, C. Lupu, A. Vlădescu (eds.), Études sur le XVIIIe siècle, Études canadiennes. Hommages offerts à Irina Bădescu, Bucureşti: Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2008, 22-45

“Connotations of ‘Self-Love’ in the Early Modern English Literature on the Passions”, University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, X.2 (2008): 105-112

“Defoe’s Mrs. Veal and the Rhetoric of Certainty”, Romanian Journal of English Studies 3 (2006): 307-318

“‘The Relish of Our Minds’: Locke on Educating the Self”, University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, VII.3 (2005): 117-122

“Arcana of Politeness: Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to His Son”, University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, VI.3 (2004): 106-113

“How Can a Trickster be My Friend? Or, The Unexpected Face of the Other”, Analele Universitatii Bucuresti. Limbi si Literaturi Straine, LIII (2004): 35-48

“Striking Images: Loci Memoriae Revisited”, University of Bucharest Review. A Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, V.3 (2003): 26-34

“Prospero’s Time” in Vlad Alexandrescu et Dana Jalobeanu (eds.), Esprits Modernes. Études sur les modèles de pensée alternatifs aux XVIe-XVIIIe siècles, Arad: University of Bucharest Press and Vasile Goldis University Press, 2003, 193-211

Reviews

“Mathematics and the Cultivation of the Self” (review of Matthew L. Jones, The Good Life in the Scientific Revolution. Descartes, Pascal, Leibniz, and the Cultivation of Virtue, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), Metascience 16 (2007): 509-513

“The Origins of Modern Mind: the Story of a Failure” (review of Dana Jalobeanu, Inventarea modernităţii: filosofie naturală, teologie şi ştiinţă în secolul al XVII-lea, Cluj-Napoca: Editura Napoca Star, 2006), Transdisciplinarity in Science and Religion 1 (2007): 235-237

Translations

Stelian Tănase, At Home There’s Only Speaking in a Whisper, New York: Boulder, Distributed by Columbia University Press, 2007

J.L. Austin, Cum să faci lucruri cu vorbe (How To Do Things With Words), Bucureşti: Paralela 45, 2003, 2^nd ed. 2005

Pavel Câmpeanu, Ceauşescu: The Countdown, New York: Boulder, Distributed by Columbia University Press, 2003

C.S. Lewis, Sfaturile unui diavol bătrîn către unul mai tînăr (The Screwtape Letters), Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2003

Anthony Burgess, Shakespeare, Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2002

Irina Nicolau, Come on, now! A personal journey through the world of the Aromanians, New York: Boulder, Distributed by Columbia University Press, 2002

Sorin Mitu, National Identity of the Romanians in Transylvania, Budapest: CEU Press, 2001

PAPERS & SEMINARS

2011

“Francis Bacon and the Epistemology of the Imagination”, paper, International Conference “Literature and the Long Modernity”, associated with the CNCSIS research grant “The Institution of Literature”, Bucharest, Romania, November 2011

“Patience: From Moral to Intellectual Virtue”, paper, 13^th International Congress of the Enlightenment, Graz, Austria, July 2011

“The Magician’s Imagination in Francis Bacon”, paper (with Koen Vermeir), Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Bran, Romania, July 2011

“Francis Bacon and the Motions of the Mind”, paper, “Francis Bacon and the Materiality of the Appetites” Conference associated with the ERC starting grant MOM, The Warburg Institute, London, UK, June 2011

“External and Internal Conflict in Early Modern Thought”, paper, Annual Conference of the English Department “Tales of War”, University of Bucharest, June 2011

“Francis Bacon on the Authority of the Imagination”, paper, International Society for Intellectual History Conference “Passionate Minds”, Bucharest, May 2011

“John Locke, the Love of Truth, and Regulative Epistemology”, paper, International Conference “Learning to Feel”, Jerusalem, Israel, April 2011

“John Locke on the Conduct of the Understanding”, paper, Bucharest Graduate Conference in Early Modern Philosophy (invited speaker), Bucharest, Romania, March 2011

“‘The Good of the Mind’: Moral and Intellectual Virtues in Bacon’s Philosophy”, paper, “Francis Bacon and the Medicine of the Mind” Seminar associated with the ERC starting grant MOM, The Warburg Institute, London, UK, January 2011

2010

“The Two Cultures and the Good Life”, paper, International Conference “Authority and the Canon”, associated with the CNCSIS research grant “The Institution of Literature”, Bucharest, Romania, December 2010

“Of Idols and Bonds: Francis Bacon on imagination, judgment and the emotions”, paper, International Seminar “Montaigne et Bacon”, Paris, France, September 2010

“Natural Philosophy, Natural History, and Magic: Bruno, Bacon and Della Porta”, seminar (with Koen Vermeir and Dana Jalobeanu), Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Bran, Romania, July 2010

“The Generic Context of Francis Bacon’s ‘New Logic’”, paper, History of the Philosophy of Science (HOPOS) Conference, Budapest, Hungary, June 2010

“Francis Bacon on the ‘End of Knowledge’ and the Reconfiguration of Learning in the Late Renaissance”, paper, Workshop of the ERC Starting Grant MOM, Bucharest, Romania, May 2010

2009

“Bacon’s Moral Philosophy among the Arts of Tempering the Mind”, paper, Workshop of the ERC Starting Grant MOM, Bucharest, Romania, November 2009

“Rational Passions: Natural Philosophy, Medicine and the Novel”, paper, International Conference “The Rise of Literature, from Early to Classic Modernity”, associated with the CNCSIS research grant “The Institution of Literature”, Bucharest, Romania, November 2009

“Early Modern Regimens of the Mind and the Virtues of Scepticism”, paper, 10^th International Society for Intellectual History (ISIH) Conference “Translatio Studiorum”, Verona, Italy, May 2009

“The Meanings of ‘Discipline’: Early Modern Educational Thought”, paper, British and American Studies (BAS) Conference, Timisoara, Romania, May 2009

“Knowledge and Self-Cultivation in the Seventeenth Century: New Perspectives”, paper (plenary), IX International Colloquium of the History of the Philosophy of Nature, Campinas State University, Brazil, April 2009

“Boyle on the Study of ‘God’s Works’: What Kind of Discipline?”, paper, International Conference “Beyond Kuhnian Paradigms: Was There a Scientific Revolution in the Seventeenth Century After All?”, Bucharest, Romania, March 2009

2008

“‘The Longest way about is the nearest Way Home’: Robert Boyle on Reading Scripture”, paper, International Conference “Homecoming” associated with the research grant ODISEI of CESIC, Sinaia, Romania, October 2008

“Early Modern Metaphors of the Mind: the Case of ‘Tincture’”, paper, Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Mălâncrav, Romania, August 2008

“The Tutor Figure in Some Early Modern Educational Treatises and Its Ancient Model”, paper, International Conference “Mapping Identity: Case Studies” associated with the research grant ODISEI of CESIC, Bucharest, Romania, May 2008

“Connotations of Self-Love in the Early Modern Literature on the Passions”, paper, Conference of the English Department, University of Bucharest, June 2008

“The Ethical Dimensions of Translation, via Ricoeur”, paper, Workshop associated with the research grant “In(hospitable) translations”, Bucharest, April 2008

“Robert Boyle on ‘Right Reason’ and ‘Physical and Theological Experience’”, paper, Conférence de l’Université de Luxembourg “Nature et surnaturel”, Université de Luxembourg, Luxemburg, February 2008

2007

“The Solitary Traveller in Cultural Translation: Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, Robinson Crusoe and Early Modern Natural Theology”, paper, Workshop associated with the research grant ODISEI of CESIC, Bucharest, November 2007

“Assent and the Passions in the Seventeenth Century”, paper, Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Bran, Romania, August 2007

“The Passions, Therapy and Modern Man: Robinson Crusoe meets the Christian Virtuoso”, paper, International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS) Seminar, Montpellier, France, June 2007

“Reason and the Passions in the Seventeenth Century”, presentation, NEC Fellows’ Seminar, Bucharest, May 2007

“The Regulation of Assent and the Cultivation of the Self in Seventeenth-Century Thought”, paper, ISIH International Conference, London, UK, April 2007

2006

“The Therapy of the Mind in the Seventeenth Century”, presentation, NEC Fellows’ Seminar, Bucharest, October 2006

“A Regimen of the Mind: Locke on Study and the Interpretation of Scripture”, paper, The 6^th EASR and IAHR Special Conference, Bucharest, Romania, September 2006

“Locke’s Inference to Providence”, paper, Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Bran, Romania, August 2006

“Individuation in Early Modern Philosophy: Locke”, seminar (with Peter Anstey), Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Bran, Romania, August 2006

“The Warmth of Inquiry: Locke on Hypotheses, Passions, and the Study of Nature”, paper, British Society for the History of Science (BSHS) Conference, Canterbury, UK, May 2006

2005

“Defoe’s Mrs. Veal and the Rhetoric of Certainty”, paper, BAS Conference, Timisoara, September 2005

“Bacon’s Masques”, paper (with Dana Jalobeanu), Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Bran, Romania, August 2005

“’The Relish of Our Minds’: Locke on Educating the Self”, paper, Conference of the English Department, University of Bucharest, June 2005

“Dilettanti, virtuosi, specialists and inter-disciplinarians: reforms of knowledge and public culture from early to late modernity”, paper, Conference of the British Cultural Studies Centre, University of Bucharest, February 2005

2004

“Self to Itself Now: Locke’s Person, Self-conscious and Uneasy”, paper, FME Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Arad, Romania, July 2004

“Arcana of Politeness: Lord Chesterfield’s Letters to His Son”, paper, Conference of the English Department, University of Bucharest, June 2004

“Descartes’ Ego: Between the Autobiographical and the Metaphysical”, paper, Conference of the British Cultural Studies Centre, University of Bucharest, March 2004

2003

“Descartes’ ego fabulator: from personal to philosophical self”, seminar (with Vlad Alexandrescu), FME International Summer School, Macea, Romania, July 2003

“Striking Images: Loci Memoriae Revisited”, paper, Conference of the English Department, University of Bucharest, June 2003

“The Winter’s Tale and the Rhetoric of Time”, paper, Conference of the British Cultural Studies Centre, University of Bucharest, March 2003

Experiments, reason and revelation: the moral value of studying nature in Early Modernity

28^th of July- 3^rd of August 2007

Bran, Romania

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Among the recent and less recent discussions concerning the meaning of “experiments” for the constitution of early modern science, much has been said about the relation between science and religion, natural philosophy and natural theology and the various ways of reaching certainty. For some of the early modern philosophy, studying nature carried moral and religious significance. Moreover, the experimental practice itself was sometimes regarded as related to religious experiences. Some of this moral and religious background of the experimental philosophy has often been considered as a rhetorical apologetic construction. But is this the only way of seeing the connection? Is there a possibility of seeing religious and moral values as intrinsic to the experimental philosophy?

The FME-Princeton seminar in modern philosophy is an international meeting of scholars interested in various aspects of early modern thought. The aim of the seminar is to create an interesting environment for discussing papers and ideas. It includes workshops in the morning and presentations of papers in the afternoon, trying to maintain a balance between a high academic level and the informal spirit of an academia.

The seminar will take place in Bran, near Brasov, in Transylvania.

Participants: Vlad Alexandrescu (University of Bucharest), Catalin Avramescu (University of Bucharest), Norma B. Goethe (National University of Cordoba, Argentina), Etienne Brun Rovet (Paris I), Ion Copoeru (Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj), Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest, New Europe College), Sorin Costreie (University of Bucharest, New Europe College), Mihnea Dobre (University of Bucharest), Marius Dumitru (Oxford University), William Eaton (Georgia Southern University), Raphaele Fruet (Cambridge University), Daniel Garber (Princeton University), Vana Grigoropoulous (Athens), Irina Iakounina (Freiburg, Yale University), Dana Jalobeanu (Vasile Goldis University, Arad), Dana Nica (Iasi University and Clermont-Ferrand), Adrian Nita (Institute of Philosophy, Romanian Academy), Lucian Petrescu (University of Bucharest, Paris IV), Ionut Untea (Université de Lyon III).

Seminars and Texts

Each morning will be devoted to a reading group organized around the following texts:

1. Natural philosophy in the correspondence between Leibniz and Clarke.

The Correspondence between Leibniz and Clarke (extrait from the Gerhardt edition, .rtf, 76 p.). Cf. also an introduction available online and Jonathan Bennett\’s version, very readable.

2. Baconian experiments.

Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Century X (PDF, 4 MB).

3. The moral value of studying nature and the image of the \”Christian Virtuoso\”

Robert Boyle, The Christian Virtuoso, Part I (1690 edition, .pdf, 18 MB).

4. Experiments, therapy and the construction of the moral person in the 17th Century treatises on passions.

Texts:

New Organon, Book I, Aphorisms XXI-XXVIII and XXXVIII-LXVIII; The Works of Francis Bacon, 1863 (html external).

Descartes, Les Passions de l\’âme (html, 1649 edition). Il s\’agit des sections suivantes: XVII-XXXII (fonctions de l\’ame; volonté, perception, imagination; définition des passions; la glande pineale) XL-L (effet des passions; pouvoir de l\’âme sur le corps; mémoire, imagination, attention, volonté; combat entre les passions; force ou faiblesse de l\’âme); LXIX-LXXXII (les six passions primitives; l\’admiration; l\’amour); CXXXVII-CXLVIII (usage des passions; émotions intérieures de l\’âme; l\’exercise de la vertu); CXLIX-CLXI (estime; générosité; humilité vertueuse); CCXI-CCXII (remède général contre les passions).
English text from the 1650 edition (html, external).

Malebranche, De la recherche de la vérité, Livre V, ch. V-VIII (1688 edition, extract; PDF 3 MB)

Thomas Wright, The passions of the minde in generall, 1604 (2nd edition, 1st edition 1601, excerpts, PDF 4 MB)

Edward Reynoldes, A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man, 1640 edition, excepts, PDF 3,7 MB)

Pierre Du Moulin, Of Peace and Contentment of Minde, 1657 (excerpts, PDF 4MB)

5. The culture of the mind. Investigation into an Early Modern Discipline

Download the Seminar\’s poster (PDF).

Bucharest Colloquim in Early Modern Philosophy 2008

Vanishing bodies and the birth of modern physics.

Experimental philosophy, speculative philosophy and the missing matter theory of the seventeenth century

The various attempts to find a new and suitable definition of physical bodies given by the seventeenth century indicate a major problem in natural philosophy. In replacing the Aristotelian conceptual framework with various alternatives, the new philosophy opened up a string of natural questions concerning the nature of body, its properties and constituents, as well as closely related philosophical questions concerning the proper way of constructing a new physics. The debate lasted for more than a century, shaping the evolution of early modern philosophy and the emergence of mathematical physics. Most of the leading seventeenth-century philosophers contributed to the debate, from Francis Bacon and the Baconians of the Royal Society to Descartes and its followers, Spinoza or Leibniz. The problem had wide philosophical, theological and physical implications ranging from questions of individuation and identity to cosmology and the nature of forces, from the laws of nature to the fate of souls and the resurrection of bodies.

In addressing this issue, natural philosophy divided along interesting epistemological lines. On the one hand, some early modern philosophers in search of a definition and a conceptual structure of their discipline looked for general principles and hypotheses concerning the nature of matter and space; on the other hand, experimental philosophers framed new methodological approaches with interesting consequences for both philosophy and science. A close historical survey of the way in which these two, sometimes conflicting and sometimes complementary, approaches developed should shed an interesting light upon the origins and developments of the new observational and quantitative approach to matter theory that emerged in the eighteenth century. This survey will also have implications for our assessment of the utility of the competing historiographical and methodological categories that are used to explain the different approaches to matter theory in the period.

Indeed, one is tempted to find dramatic labels for what was surely a dramatic struggle. The problem of finding a new definition of bodies was transformed, by the 1660s into one of the major ‘flash points’ of natural philosophy, a sectarian war amongst competing anti-Aristotelian factions and competing matter theories. By the end of the century, however, a paradoxical situation had arisen with the emergence of the new physics: a physics dealing with ‘vanishing bodies’. This expression alludes to the most important development within the debate, namely, Newtonian mechanics, which provided a compelling dynamical analysis of the behaviour of large material bodies, while at the same time treating them as mathematical entities and providing no insight into their precise nature.

Significant progress has been made in recent years in understanding the varieties and origins of early modern matter theories, but much work remains to be done. The reconstruction of the complex history of early modern matter theory remains a desideratum for historians of early modern thought, as one of the main pieces in a puzzle which should give us a fuller account of the prehistory and emergence of modern science. Moreover, such a reconstruction requires collaboration. Our project aims at pulling together people who can address the issue from various perspectives (history of philosophy, history of science, theology, history of political thought), working with different methodologies, on different texts from the same period.

The colloquium

The Bucharest Colloquium in Early Modern Philosophy continues a series of meetings and summer seminars organised by the Research Centre Foundations of Modern Thought (University of Bucharest), New Europe College (Bucharest) and Princeton University. The present project, which aims to continue this tradition, is initiated by a scientific committee from around the world: Princeton University, University of Otago, New Zealand, University of Bucharest and University of Notre Dame.

Location: New Europe College, 21 Plantelor Street, Bucharest. Details will be posted soon.

Participants: Dan Garber (Princeton University), Peter Harrison (Oxford University), Stephen Gaukroger (University of Sydney), Eric Schliesser (Leyden University), Vlad Alexandrescu (University of Bucharest), Ilie Parvu (University of Bucharest), Sorin Costreie (University of Bucharest), Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest), Dana Jalobeanu (Western University Vasile Goldis, Arad, University of Bucharest), Mihnea Dobre (University of Bucharest), Grigore Vida (University of Bucharest), Lucian Petrescu (University of Bucharest), Doina Cristina Rusu (University of Bucharest), Madalina Giurgea (University of Bucharest).

More…

Experiments and the Arts of Discovery in the Early Modern Europe 
Participants: Daniel Garber (Princeton University), Peter Anstey (Sydney University), Stephen Gaukroger (University of Sydney), Sergius Kodera (Vienna University), Arianna Borrelli (Wuppertal), Jonathan Regier (Paris), Benedino Gemelli (Bellinzona), Evan Ragland (Alabama), Kathryn Murphy (Oxford), Vlad Alexandrescu (University of Bucharest), Mordechai Feingold (Caltech), Albrecht Heeffer (University of Ghent), Alberto Vanzo (Warwick), Koen Vermeir (Paris), Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest).

Organizers: Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest) and Cesare Pastorino (Essex University), at the Center for the Logic, History and the Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest.

More…

• 2013: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 13th Edition. Bran, 5–10 July 2013. 
• 2012: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 12th Edition. Bran, 29 July – 4 July.
• 2011: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 11th Edition. Bran, July 2th – 8th.
• 2010: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 10th Edition. Bran, June 30th – July 6.
• 2009: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 9th Edition. Bran, July 25 – 31.
• 2008: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 8th Edition. With the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute and University of Otago, Malancrav, July 29 – August 4.
• 2007: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. 7th Edition. Experiments, reason and revelation: the moral value of studying nature in Early Modernity. Bran, July 28 – August 3.
• 2006: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. Disseminating Knowledge in the Seventeenth Century: Centres and Peripheries in the Republic of Letters. Bran, July 30 – August 4.
• 2005: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. The Great Instauration. Science, Philosophy and the Reformation of knowledge in the 17th Century. Bran, July 2-7.
• 2004: Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy. Theories of Matter and Mind in the 17th Century. Arad, September 6 – 12.
• 2003: Souls, Clocks, Atoms and Forces: Competing Models of Individuals in Early Modern Thought. International Summer School. Macea, August 30-September 14.
• 2002: Enseigner l’histoire des idées comme pratique de la liberté. Modèles d’explication concurrents dans la pensée moderne. International Summer School. Macea, August 30-September 13.
• 2001: Spaces of freedom in modern thought. Individuals, reformation projects, multiple societies. International Summer School. Tescani, September 2-13.