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.