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List of participants Bran 2014

BUCHAREST-PRINCETON SEMINAR IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY

8– 13 July 2014

De rerum natura: Naturalism, Supernaturalism, Unnaturalism

Participants:



1.         Daniel Garber (Princeton University)
2.         Roger Ariew (University of South Florida)
3.         Igor Agostini (Università del Salento) –
4.         Peter Anstey (Sydney)
5.         Olivier Dubouclez (Liège)
6.         Justin E.H. Smith (Paris)
7.         Tamás Pavlovits (Szeged)
8.         Jennifer Rampling (Princeton University)
9.         Charles T. Wolfe (Ghent University)
10.       Steven Vanden Broecke (Ghent University)
11.       Vlad Alexandrescu (University of Bucharest)
12.       Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest)
13.       Mihnea Dobre (University of Bucharest)
14.       Grigore Vida (New Europe College, Bucharest)
15.       Doina-Cristina Rusu (University of Bucharest)
16.       Claudia Dumitru (University of Bucharest)
17.       Oana Matei (Vasile Goldis University of Arad)
18.       Aaron Spink (University of South Florida)
19.       Rafael Krut-Landau (Princeton University)
20.       Michael Rosenthal (University of Washington)
21.       Ed Slowick  (Winona State University)
22.       Rodolfo Garau (Università degli studi di Torino)
23.       Sarah Ellenzweig (Rice University)
24.       Enrico Pasini (Università degli studi di Torino)
25.       Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet (New Europe College, Bucharest)
26.       Daniel Collette (University of South Florida)
27.       Alison Peterman (University of Rochester)
28.       Andrea Strazzoni (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam)
29.       Veronika Szanto (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest)

BUCHAREST-PRINCETON SEMINAR
IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY
14th Edition
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
De rerum natura: Naturalism, Supernaturalism, Unnaturalism
Invited speakers include: Daniel Garber (Princeton), Roger Ariew (South Florida), Igor Agostini (Università del Salento), Peter Anstey (Sydney), Olivier Dubouclez (Liège), Justin E.H. Smith (Paris), Tamás Pavlovits (Szeged), Jennifer Rampling (Princeton), Charles T. Wolfe (Ghent).

List of participants

Programme

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. There was also the key development of new definitions of nature articulated in terms of natural laws and of their relationship with God, as well as discussions of the infinite and the finite with reference to both the natural and the super-natural worlds, such as in Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, or Newton. Whether committed to vital(ist) or to mechanical frames of thought, and whether using the instruments of physics, metaphysics, or mathematics, of medicine, alchemy, or the interventionist arts, these early modern inquiries asked fundamental questions about the boundaries of the natural, the structure and potential of matter, the status of the mind and the status of the human being with respect to nature.
The Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy is an international annual meeting of scholars interested in various aspects of early modern thought. The aim of the seminar is to create a stimulating environment for discussing papers and ideas. It includes workshops in the morning and presentations of papers in the afternoon, where participants can present work in progress. While the morning sessions will focus on the theme of “De rerum natura: Naturalism, Supernaturalism, Unnaturalism,” the afternoon sessions seek to give participants the opportunity to discuss their own special interests with an open and sympathetic audience of students and scholars with broad interests in early modern thought. Throughout we try to maintain a balance between the high scholarly level and the informal friendly spirit of a colloquium.
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.com) and Dana Jalobeanu (dana.jalobeanu@celfis.ro). 

Colloque J.L. Marion

L’Université de Bucarest – Faculté de Philosophie 
 Société Roumaine de Phénoménologie
Centre d’études phénoménologiques
Centre « Fondements de la Modernité Européenne »
vous invitent
Jeudi et Vendredi les 10 et 11 octobre
au colloque
« Lectures de Jean-Luc Marion »
Faculté de Philosophie, Université de Bucarest
(Splaiul Independenței nr. 204, Amphithéâtre « Mircea Florian »)
JEUDI 10 OCTOBRE
Cristian Ciocan: Ouverture(10h00)
Anca Vasiliu: Jean-Luc Marion: le visible, le donné, l’acte. La philosophie de la donation entre métaphysique et phénoménologie
Première Session (11h00)
Modérateur: Anca Vasiliu
Georgiana Huian : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur d’Augustin
Marilena Vlad: Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Denys l\’Aréopagite
Florin Crîșmareanu : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Maxime le Confesseur
Jean-Luc Marion : Réponses
Deuxième Session  (15h30)
Modérateur: Cristian Ciocan
Alexander Baumgarten : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur d’Anselme
Bogdan Tătaru-Cazaban : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Thomas d’Aquin
Vlad Alexandrescu : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Descartes
Călin Cristian Pop : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Pascal
Cristian Moisuc : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Malebranche
Jean-Luc Marion : Réponses
VENDREDI 11 OCTOMBRIE 2013
Troisième Session  (10h00)
Modérateur: Vlad Alexandrescu
Claudia Șerban : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Kant
George Bondor : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Nietzsche
Delia Popa : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Husserl
Bogdan Mincă : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Heidegger
Jean-Luc Marion : Réponses
Quatrième Session  (15h30)
Modérateur: Claudia Șerban
Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Hans Urs von Balthasar
Cristian Ciocan : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Levinas
Sorin Ovidiu Podar : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Michel Henry
Paul Marinescu : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Paul Ricoeur
Ovidiu Stanciu : Jean-Luc Marion lecteur de Derrida

Jean-Luc Marion : Réponses et Conclusions

Programme – The Losers of the Scientific Revolution

Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy
Bran, 5–10 July 2012
The Losers of the Scientific Revolution
Programme
Friday, 5 July
9.30 Departure to Bran from Hotel Flowers, Plantelor str. 2, Bucharest  (lunch on the way in Brașov)
17.00 Arrival in Bran (Vila Andra)
19.00 Dinner
Saturday, 6 July
9.30-10.30 Conference: Vlad Alexandrescu (Bucharest): Descartes et le rêve (baconien) de “la plus haute et plus parfaite science”
10.30-10.45 Coffee break
10.45-13.00 Reading group (I): Baconianism and Cartesianism. On Method
Convenors: Mihnea Dobre, Igor Agostini
Texts: Descartes\’s Regulae, the Discourse, and the Objections; (fragments)
a chapter on Bacon from Mersenne\’s La verité de sciences, pp. 206-224; Nicolas Poisson\’s Commentaire ou remarques sur la methode de Descartes, pp. 54-72
13.00-15.00 Lunch break
16.00-16.35 Fabrizio Baldassarri (Parma): Useless Victories and Useful Losses. Descartes and Losers in Scientific Revolution
16.35-16.50 Coffee break
16.50-19.00 Reading group (II): Baconianism and Cartesianism. On experiments
Convenors: Mihnea Dobre, Sophie Roux
Texts: Rochon, Lettre d\’un philosophe à un cartésien de ces amis, p. 119-129, p. 141-55, p. 194-202; Mariotte, Essai de logique, p. 8-33, p. 110-149); Jacques Rohault, System of Natural Philosophy, On Void, p. 56-68.
19.30 Dinner
Sunday, 7 July
9.15-9.50 Igor Agostini (Universita degli studi del Salento): What does it mean to edit an Index scolastico-cartésien today?
9.50-10.40 Stefano Di Bella (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa), Idolon naturae. Seventeenth-century discussions on the concept of nature
10.40-10.55 Coffee break
10.55-13.00 Reading group (III): Vitalism vs. the Scientific Revolution (1)
Convenors: Emanuela Scribano, Stefano Di Bella
Texts: Cureau de La Chambre, Le Système de l\’âme 1664, Livre III (\”Corpus des oeuvres de philosophie en langue française\”); Cudworth\’s digression on \’plastick nature\’ in the True Intellectual System 
13.00-15.00 Lunch break
16.00-16.35: Rodolfo Garau (Torino), Descartes’ reception of the late-scholastic concept of conatus
16.35-16.50 Coffee break
16.50-17.25 Mihai-Dragoş Vadana (Bucharest), On the shivery separation between philosophy and theology: Descartes, Wittich and Meijer
17.25-18.00 Andrea Sangiacomo (Groningen): Explaining superstition: Spinoza’s conatus doctrine and its evolution between 1661 and 1670
19.00 Dinner
Monday, 8 July
9.30-10.05 Charles Wolfe (Ghent): Vitalism between ontology and scientific pursuit-worthiness in the wake of the Scientific Revolution
10.05-10.20 Coffee break
10.20-12.35 Reading group (IV): Vitalism vs. the Scientific Revolution (2)
Convenors: Charles Wolfe, Sorana Corneanu
Texts: Glisson, excerpt from De natura substantiae energetica, 1672 (trans. G. Giglioni); excerpts from the Leibniz-Stahl debate (Animadversiones circa Assertiones aliquas Theoriae Medicae Verae clarii Stahlii … Or Negotium otiosum, seu Schiamachia, 1708) (trans. J.E.H. Smith and F. Duchesneau); A. von Haller, A Dissertation on the Sensible and Irritable Parts of Animals, 1752/1753; excerpts from Bordeu (1751), Ménuret (1765) and Diderot (1769) on the ‘beeswarm’ (trans. C.T. Wolfe); Ménuret, article “Oeconomie animale” from the Encyclopédie(1765)
13.00-15.00 Lunch break
16.00-16.35 Ohad Nachtomy (Tel Aviv): “Ce qu’il vient de dire de la double infinité n’est qu’une entrée dans mon système” – Leibniz’s Response to Pascal on the Nature of Living Beings
16.35-16.50 Coffee break
16.50 -17.25 Lucian Petrescu (Ghent): Bartholomaeus Des Bosses’ Eucharistic Key
17.25-18.00 Sebastian Mateiescu (Bucharest): Francis Bacon on the Stability and Transmutation of Species
19.00 Dinner
Tuesday, 9 July
9.15-9.50:  Ian Lawson (Sydney): \’This Brittle Art\’: Margaret Cavendish and the Microscope
9.50-10.25 Ofer Gal (Sydney): The Jesuits and the telescope
10.25-10.40 Coffee break
10.40-12.55 Reading group (V): Mechanical philosophy vs. the spirit of nature: Henry More.
Convenors: Daniel Garber, Stefano Di Bella, Grigore Vida
Texts:
Henry More, Immortality of the Soul, fragment
Kenelm Digby, Discourse on the powder of symathy, or The weapon salve, fragment
13.00-15.00 Lunch
16.00-16.35 Grigore Vida (New Europe College): Newton’s De Gravitatione and the Descartes-More Correspondence
16.35-16.50 Coffee break
16.50-17.25 Monica Solomon (Notre Dame), Newton, Huygens, and the (truly?) Rotating Globes
17.25-18.00 Claudia Dumitru (Bucharest): Robert Hooke\’s “Baconian Method”: Memory and Natural History
19.00 Dinner
Wednesday, 10 July
9.30 Departure to Bucharest
This Seminar is supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0998: Models of Producing and Disseminating Knowledge in Early Modern Europe: the Cartesian Framework.

4th Bucharest Colloquium in Early Modern Science, 12-14 May 2013

4thBucharest Colloquium in Early Modern Science
Experiments and the Arts of Discovery in the Early Modern Europe
12-14 May 2013
Center for the Logic, History and the Philosophy of Science
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bucharest

Recent research has been oriented towards the exploration of experiments, experimental methodologies and experimental practices in the early modern period. On the one hand, traditional histories of science and philosophy have been challenged by an increased number of examples that were not easily adapted to the existing categories (e.g., numerous observational practices and ways to note the reports of experiments). On the other hand, these historiographical categories have been criticized for their limited explanatory possibilities (e.g., quite often they described experiment in a way that was much closer to its development in the 18th and 19th centuries). Such problems revealed an urgent need to re-evaluate and change our traditional views concerning the experimental practice.
With our workshop on Experiments and the arts of discovery in early modern Europe, we are interested to put together researchers interested in the study of the multiple uses of experimentation in the 16th and 17thcenturies (e.g., natural philosophy, natural history, mixed-mathematics, medicine, moral philosophy, theology etc.). Here is a non-exhaustive list of such points of interest: (a) The creative value(s) of early modern experiments; (b) The use of experiments in analogical thinking and the use of experiments in ‘grounding’ analogies; (c) The methodologically driven experimentation.
Program:
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Chair: Dana Jalobeanu (Bucharest)
10:00-11:00     Peter Anstey (Sydney), Experimental natural history (keynote lecture)
11:00-11:30     Coffee Break
11:30-12.30     Sergius Kodera (Vienna), The Laboratory as Stage: Giovanni Battista della Porta’s Experiments
12.30-13.30     Lunch Break
Chair: Cesare Pastorino (Sussex)
13.30-14.30     Arianna Borrelli (Wuppertal), The invisible technique: the emergence of transparent glass and the development of Giovan Battista Della Porta\’s optical experiments
14.30-15:00     Coffee break 
15:00-16:00     Evan Ragland (Alabama), Making Trials in Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth-Century Medicine
16:00-16:30     Coffee break
16:30-17:30     Jonathan Regier (Paris), Mathematics and experiment in Kepler\’s De stella nova (1604)
17:30-18:00     Coffee break
18:00-19:00     Round-up discussion: Experiments in Early Modern Philosophy.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Chair: Roger Ariew (South Florida)
10:00-11:00     Daniel Garber (Princeton), Merchants of Light and Mystery Men: Bacon’s Last Projects in Natural History
11:00-11.30     Cofee break
11:30-12.30     Sorana Corneanu (Bucharest), Experimenting with the Operations of the Mind: Medicine and the ‘Intellectual Arts’
12:30-13:30     Lunch break
Chair: Richard Serjeantson (Cambridge)
13:30-14.30     Kathryn Murphy (Oxford), Strategies of Experimental Reading in Francis Bacon and Dean Christopher Wren
14.30-15:00     Coffee break                                 
15:00-16:00     Vlad Alexandrescu (Bucharest), Descartes et le rêve (baconien) de \”la plus haute et plus parfaite science\”
16:00-16:30     Coffee break
16:30-19:00     Round-up discussion: Baconian experimentation (Proponents: Dana Jalobeanu, Cesare Pastorino, Mihnea Dobre, Oana Matei, Sebastian Mateiescu, Claudia Dumitru)
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Chair: Daniel Garber (Princeton)
10:00-11:00     Mordechai Feingold (Caltech), What was the \”Experimental Philosophy\’?(keynote lecture)
11:00-11:30     Coffee break
11:30-12:30     Albrecht Heeffer (Ghent), The use of material models in physico-mathematics
12:30-13:30     Lunch break                                                                                  
Chair: Peter Anstey (Sydney)
13:30-14:30     Koen Vermeir (Paris),  John Wilkins\’ mathematical experiments and the perpetuity of discovery
14:30-15:00     Coffee break
15:00-16:00     Benedino Gemelli (Bellinzona), Francis Bacon in Isaac Beeckman’sJournal
16:00-16:30     Coffee break
16:30-17:30     Alberto Vanzo (Warwick), Experimental philosophy in late seventeenth-century Italy
17:30-18:00     Coffee break
18:00-19:00     Round-up discussion (Cesare Pastorino)

Organizers:
Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest) and Cesare Pastorino (Essex University)

OPEN (NON-THEMATIC) ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF EARLY MODERN STUDIES






CALL FOR PAPERS

The Journal of Early Modern Studies is seeking contributions for its third issue (Fall 2013). This is an open (non-thematic) issue: The Editors of the Journal of Early Modern Studies are pleased to announce a call for papers for the Fall 2013 open (non-thematic) issue of JEMS. Submissions of articles and reviews falling within the general scope of JEMS are welcome.

Editor: Sorana Corneanu

JEMS is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal of intellectual history, dedicated to the exploration of the interactions between philosophy, science and religion in Early Modern Europe. It is edited by the Research Centre “Foundations of Modern Thought”, University of Bucharest, and published and distributed by Zeta Books. For further information on JEMS, please visit http://www.zetabooks.com/journal-of-early-modern-studies.html For the Guidelines for Authors, please visit  http://www.zetabooks.com/download2/JEMS-Guidelines.pdf
We are seeking for articles no longer than 10,000 words, in English or French, with an abstract and key-words in English. Please send your contribution by the 1st of March 2013 to jems@zetabooks.com.

CFP: Studia UBB. Philosophia

Call for papers: Issue no. 3/2013 of Studia UBB. Philosophia: “Descartes’s Scientific and Philosophical Disputes with his Contemporaries” 

 “I beg all who have any objections to take the trouble to send them to me,” wrote Descartes a number of times in his career. Descartes’s eagerness to impose his views, in the name of “the search after truth,” engaged him in various controversies, from 1637, the year of the publication of the Discourse on method, to the end of his life. Apart from the famous “Objections and Replies” to the Meditations (1641), the Cartesian correspondence presents a large number of equally interesting disputes, on both scientific and philosophical topics. The letters often resemble a battlefield in which an attentive observer can distinguish various defense strategies: Trojan horses, conceptual traps, misquotes, etc. Often the aim was to disqualify the opponent not only as a bad thinker, but also as a hidden atheist. By the late 1640s, Descartes’s position within the fragile intellectual circle composed of French Catholics, novatores of various persuasions or Calvinist theologians became very unstable. His decision to accept Queen Christina’s invitation to Stockholm appears like an escape attempt from this imbroglio. 

 The present issue of Studia UBB will be dedicated to these confrontations. It aims to show, on the whole, the historical and conceptual relevance of contemporary reactions to Cartesianism for an assessment of both the novelty and the consistence of Descartes’s project. 

 Papers should be written in English, French or German. Articles cannot be longer than 75.000 characters, including spaces and footnotes. Reviews cannot be longer than 25.000 characters. The deadline for submission is 15 September 2013. Papers should follow the guidelines for the authors (http://www.studia.ubbcluj.ro/download/instr/philosophia.pdf) and be prepared for blind review. Submissions should be sent both to the editor, Ion Copoeru: copoeru@hotmail.com, and the guest editor, Vlad Alexandrescu: valexandrescu@gmail.com. 

http://studiaphilosophia.wordpress.com/call-for-papers-2/cfp-for-the-issue-no-32013-descartes-scientific-and-philosophical-disputes-with-his-contemporaries/

Princeton-Bucharest 2012 Seminar Participants

BUCHAREST-PRINCETON SEMINAR IN EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY
29 June – 4 July 2012
THE BATTLE FOR SCIENTIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
Participants:
1. Dr. Ohad Nachtomy (Bar-Ilan University)
2. Dr. Tammy Nyden (Grinnell College)
3. Dr. Calin Cristian Pop (New Europe College, Bucharest)
4. Dr. Alexander Douglas (School of Advanced Studies, London)
5. Robin Buning (Utrecht University)
6. Robert Arnautu (Central European University + New Europe College, Bucharest)
7. Steven Burgess (University of South Florida)
8. Andrea Sangiacomo (University of Macerata + ENS Lyon)
9. Marcus Adams (University of Pittsburgh)
10. Fabrizio Baldassarri (Università degli Studi di Parma)
11. Lucian Petrescu (Ghent University)
12. Lucio Mare (University of South Florida)
13. Raphael Krut-Landau (Princeton University)
14. Madalina Giurgea (University of Bucharest)
15. Laura Georgescu (University of Bucharest)
16. Doina Rusu (University of Bucharest and University of Nijmegen)
17. Dragos Vadana (New Europe College, Bucharest)
18. Sandra Dragomir (University of Bucharest)
19. Max Gavrilciuc (University of Bucharest)
Staff:
1. Daniel Garber (Princeton University)
2. Roger Ariew (University of South Florida)
3. Igor Agostini (Università del Salento)
4. Daniel Andersson (University of Oxford, Wolfson College)
5. Vlad Alexandrescu (University of Bucharest)
6. Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest)
7. Sorana Corneanu (University of Bucharest)

Bucharest-Princeton Seminar 2012



Bucharest-Princeton Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy


Bran, 29 June – 4 July 2012

THE BATTLE FOR SCIENTIA 
IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY






Programme


29 June

9.30 Departure to Bran from Hotel Flowers, Plantelor str. 2, Bucharest  (lunch on the way in Brașov)

17.00 Arrival in Bran (Vila Andra)

19.00 Dinner

30 June

9.30-10.30 Conference: Alexander Douglas (London): Spinoza, the Enlightenment, and the Idea of Social Science

10.30-10.45 Coffee break

10.45-13.00 Reading group (I): Bacon, Hooke, Sprat and the \’inductive\’ method
Convenors: Laura Georgescu, Dana Jalobeanu, Doina Rusu

Texts:

13.00-15.00 Lunch break

16.00-16.35 Daniel Andersson (Oxford): Imaginatio and Scientia


16.35-16.50 Coffee Break

16.50-17.25 Fabrizio Baldassarri (Parma): History and science: the battle for scientia. Descartes and Bacon
17.25-18.00 Robert Arnautu (CEU and New Europe College): Scientiaand banauson technai : The joint foundation for modern experimental science and technology

19.00 Dinner

1 July

9.30-10.30 Presentation & discussion of a book: Igor Agostini (Universita degli studi del Salento):L’idea di Dio in Descartes, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2011.

10.30-10.45 Coffee break

10.45-13.00 Reading group (II): Descartes\’ Regulae. Convenors: Igor Agostini, Vlad Alexandrescu, Lucian Petrescu

Texts: Regulae ad directionem ingenii, texte critique [latin] établi par Giovanni Crapulli, La Haye, Martinus Nijhof, 1951; english translation of Descartes’ letters by Dugald Murdoch in The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, vol. I, translated by J. Cottingham, R. Stoothoff, D. Murdoch, CUP, 1985, p. 7-77; French translation by J.L. Marion, in Descartes, Règles utiles et claires pour la direction de l’esprit et la recherche de la vérité, La Haye, Martinus Nijhoff, 1977.


13.00-15.00 Lunch break

16.00-16.35: Steven Burgess (South Florida), The Ontological Background of the Method of Demonstration in Descartes’ Meditations

16.35-16.50 Coffee break

16.50-17.25 Calin Cristian Pop (New Europe College): Ontologie inachevée de l’infini chez Descartes comme propédeutique de la scientia
17.25-18.00 Roger Ariew (South Florida), Condemnations of Cartesianism and the resulting empiricism


19.00 Dinner


2 July

9.30-10.05 Max Gavrilciuc(Bucharest): Soul Individuality in Descartes
10.05-10.40: Madalina Giurgea (Ghent): On speed, force and motion in Mersenne’s Traité de l’Harmonie Universelle

10.40-11.00 Coffee break

11.00-13.00 Reading group (III): A \’science\’ of the soul: Charleton, Convenor: Sorana Corneanu

Text: Walter Charleton, Natural History of the Passions, London, 1674, Sections I-III, pp. 2-67.

13.00-15.00 Lunch break

16.00-16.35 Robin Buning (Utrecht): Henricus Reneri’s programme for the renovation of natural philosophy

16.35-16.50 Coffee break

16.50 -17.25 Lucian Petrescu (Ghent): Peter Pázmány’s exegesis of Meteorologica IV
17.25-18.00 Raphael Krut-Landau (Princeton): The role of metaphysics in Spinoza’s philosophy

19.00 Dinner

3 July

9.30-10.30:  Conference : Andrea Sangiacomo (Macerata and Lyon ): Changing Descartes: Boyle, Spinoza and the debate on the relational nature of sensible qualities

10.30-10.45 Coffee break

10.45-13.00 Reading group (IV): Mathematical method: Newton. Convenor: Daniel Garber

Texts:

13.00-15.00 Lunch

16.00-16.35 Lucio Mare (South Florida): Infimae species in Heaven and Earth: on Leibniz’ Reception and Use of a Thomistic Individuation Principle

16.35-16.50 Coffee Break

16.50-17.25 Tammy Nyden, Not Scientia, but Not Nothing: de Volder on the Role of Experiment in Natural Philosophy
17.25-18.00 Ohad Nachtomy (Bar-Ilan University): Infinity and Life: The Role of Infinity in Leibniz’s View of Living Beings


19.00 Dinner

4 July


9.30 Departure to Bucharest



This Seminar is supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0998: Models of Producing and Disseminating Knowledge in Early Modern Europe: the Cartesian Framework.

CFP JEMS II (SPRING 2013)

The Journal of Early Modern Studies is seeking contributions for its second issue (Spring 2013). This special issue is devoted to the theme:
Creative experiments: Heuristic and Exploratory Experimentation in Early Modern Science

Editor: Dana Jalobeanu


The past decade has seen a renewed interest in multiple aspects of early modern experimentation: in the cognitive, psychological and social aspects of experiments, in their heuristic and exploratory value and in the complex inter-relations between experience, observation and experiment. Meanwhile, comparatively little has been done towards a more detailed, contextual and specific study of what might be described, a bit anachronistically, as the methodology of early modern experimentation, i.e. the ways in which philosophers, naturalists, promoters of mixed mathematics and artisans put experiments together and reflected on the capacity of experiments to extend, refine and test hypotheses, on the limits of experimental activity and on the heuristic power of experimentation. So far, the sustained interest in the role played by experiments in early modern science has usually centered on ‘evidence’- related problems. This line of investigation favored examination of the experimental results but neglected the “methodology” that brought about the results in the first place. It has also neglected the more creative and exploratory roles that experiments could and did play in the works of sixteenth and seventeenth century explorers of nature.
This special issue of the Journal of Early Modern Studies aims to bring together articles devoted to the investigation of particular cases of early modern experiments or early modern discussions of experimental methodology. We aim to put together a selection of interesting and perhaps relevant case studies that would further what might prove to be an interesting line of research, namely the investigation of the heuristic, analogical and creative role of early modern experiments.
JEMS is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal of intellectual history, dedicated to the exploration of the interactions between philosophy, science and religion in Early Modern Europe. It is edited by the Research Centre “Foundations of Modern Thought”, University of Bucharest, and published and distributed by Zeta Books. For further information on JEMS, please visit http://www.zetabooks.com/journal-of-early-modern-studies.html.
We are seeking for articles no longer than 10,000 words, in English or French, with an abstract and key-words in English. Please send your contribution by the 1st of November 2012 to jems@zetabooks.com.