Early Modern Lab

Prof. Dr. Dana Jalobeanu

The way we think and live today has strong roots in the past. To understand who we are we need to learn a lot of history — history of philosophy, history of science, and sometimes quite a lot of philosophy of science as well. These disciplines teach us that sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were crucial for the emergence of modern world (and of the modern mind). This is the period that came to be known as the ‘early modernity.’

Early modern philosophy has become an academic discipline at the end of the 20th century and has grown ever since into a thriving field of research. More recently, we have added to it another field, that of early modern science(s).

The Early Modern Lab is a research unit dedicated to an interdisciplinary, international and integrated investigation of early modern philosophy and the sciences.

Prof. Dr. Dana Jalobeanu
Professor of History of Philosophy with special focus on Early Modern Philosophy

The Research Seminar of the Early Modern Lab

The Research Seminar of the Earl Modern Lab is a weekly hybrid meeting of researchers and students, dedicated to discussing work-in-progress and research projects. It aims to be both inter and cross-disciplinary, bringing together scholars from different fields: history of philosophy, history of science, philosophy of science, classics, digital humanities, AI and computer science.

To the event series

Princeton Bucharest Nuremberg Seminar

The Princeton-Bucharest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy was established in 2001 by Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest), Vlad Alexandrescu (University of Bucharest) and Dan Garber (Princeton University). From 2025, the Princeton-Bucharest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy is moving to Nuremberg. University of Technology Nuremberg has joined in as a permanent partner. This year’s theme is “The Losers of the Scientific Revolution”.

To the event

News

15.4.2025	We are hiring! We look for an outstanding candidate with an interest in early modern philosophy and the sciences, willing to join our team. Background in history of philosophy and/or history of science, good knowledge of the classical tradition may constitute a plus. Find all the details about our fully funded PhD position here.
9.4.2025	The Princeton-Bucharest-Nuremberg Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy will take place from June 30 to July 4, 2025. Further information will be available soon.

Current Research Projects

Solomon Houses of Early Modern Europe: The Diffusion and Transformation of Baconianism

Investigating the diffusion of Baconianism across Europe and the transmission and influence of Bacon’s Sylva Sylvarum and the New Atlantis in different contexts in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.

From natural magic to science: the modern impact of natural magic recipes and the European diffusion of Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s Magia naturalis.

Investigating the reception and uses of Giovanni Battista Della Porta’s Magia naturalis in the seventeenth century England, in the context of the emergence of experimental philosophy.

The experimental philosophy of Henry Power: a view from the archives.

This project aims to offer a better understanding of mid-seventeenth century experimental philosophy and the interplay between natural philosophy, natural history, theology and moral philosophy. Its focus is the archive of the natural philosopher, medical practitioner and humanist Henry Power (1621-1668). Among the outcomes of the project is a special issue of the Annals of Science co-edited by Dana Jalobeanu and Gideon Manning (in preparation).

The Recipe Project: how experimental knowledge is transmitted from one context to another

More here: Recipes, ‘technologies’, experiments: Enactment and the emergence of modern science – Dana Jalobeanu

Selected Publications

Dana Jalobeanu, Charles Wolfe (eds.), Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences, Springer: Cham, 2022, 3 volumes
David Marshall Miller, Dana Jalobeanu (eds.), Cambridge History of Philosophy of the Scientific Revolution, Cambridge University Press, 2022
Dana Jalobeanu, Spectacolul filosofiei. Cum să citim Scrisorile lui Seneca, Humanitas, București, 2022
Guido Giglioni, James Lancaster, Sorana Corneanu, Dana Jalobeanu (eds.), Francis Bacon on Motion and Power, Springer, Cham, 2016
Dana Jalobeanu, The Art of Experimental Natural History: Francis Bacon in Context, Zeta Books, Bucharest, 2015
Dana Jalobeanu, Peter Anstey (eds.), Vanishing Matter and the Laws of Nature, Routledge: London, 2011

Creating life in the laboratory: Francis Bacon’s journey from living spirits to animated bodies, Notes and Records of the Royal Society (Jan. 2024), DOI
Francis Bacon and the practices of measurement, Annals of Science, 71 (2024), 79–99
On bodies and their orbs, in L. Georgescu & H. T. Andriaenssen (eds.), Springer, 2022, pp. 183–201
with Peter Anstey, Experimental natural history, in Cambridge History…, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2022
Dissecting Nature ad vivum, Bruniana & Campanelliana, 28 (1), 2022, 165–183
with Oana Matei, Spiritual technologies, Nuncius, 1 (2022), 315–345
Emblems as Epistemic Tools and Heuristic Devices, in Dumbrava & Tataru Cabazan (eds.), Zeta Books, 2022
Superstition, Idolatry and the Advancement of Learning, Lexicon Philosophicum 9 (2021), 11–32
On Metaphysics and Method, Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, 58 (3), 2021, 98–118
Big Books, Small Books…, Journal of Early Modern Studies 10 (1), 2021, 95–104
Francis Bacon’s “Perceptive” Instruments, Early Science and Medicine, 25 (6), 2021, 594–617
Experiments in the Making, Early Science and Medicine, 25 (4), 2020, 360–387
Enacting recipes, Centaurus, 62 (3), 2020, 425–446
with Doina Cristina Rusu, On the creative power of experimentation, Centaurus, 62 (3), 2020, 381–392
with Oana Matei, Chemical history of vegetation, Centaurus, 62 (3), 2020, 542–561
Francis Bacon on Axioms, Laws, Rules and Principles, Revue Roumaine de Philosophie, 64 (2), 2020, 325–340
Francis Bacon on Sophists, Poets and Other Forms of Self-Deceit, in Anstey & Vanzo (eds.), Routledge, 2019
Rewriting Francis Bacon’s Natural History, in Garrod & Smith (eds.), Brill, 2019, 180–205
Spirits Coming Alive, Early Science and Medicine 23 (5–6), 2018, 459–486
Disciplining experience, Perspectives on Science, 24 (2016), 324–342
Borders, Leaps and Orbs of Virtue, in Vermeir & Regier (eds.), Springer, 2016, 229–255
The marriage of physics with mathematics, Minnesota Studies in Philosophy of Science, 20 (2016), 51–81
Bacon’s apples, in Giglioni et al. (eds.), Springer, 2016, 83–113