The Research Seminar of the Early 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 foster the dialogue, we propose a general research theme Knowledge, representation and the language(s) of science.
Early modern period is one of great transformations, a melting pot of doctrines and ideas, a time of bold experimenting with new objects, methods, and forms of representation in the production of knowledge. We are particularly interested to follow such mutations in what pertains to aspects of language (broadly understood): concept formation, new forms of representation, re-signifying and translation, dreams of new, artificial languages. We are also interested in the changes and reconfiguration of traditional forms of writing and argumentation, and in pre-modern experiments with forms of recording experience. But we want to also address these questions from a wider perspective, asking questions about how and why such changes happen, more generally. We hope to gain a comparative perspective and a better insight by looking, sometimes, at other historical periods, and by looking at our present time, when new language(s) and new forms of representation have transformed so many sciences.
Meanwhile, papers presented in the seminar do not have to be restricted to these topics. If you are interested in joining us or if you would like to give a paper in our seminar, send an email to earlymodern@utn.de.
Key Facts
| Time | Wednesdays 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. |
| Format | Hybrid |
| Location | Department Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Ulmenstraße 52i, Meetingroom 32 |
| Zoom | https://utn-de.zoom.us/j/63489126627?pwd=yDamnnbZTu0lfNauqurO3OEalHIKO1.1 Meeting-ID: 634 8912 6627 Kenncode: 6520524599 |
| Organization | Prof. Dr. Dana Jalobeanu |
Program
Winter Semester 2025/26
September 5, Peter Anstey (Catholic University of Australia), Mark it is a Friday!
TBA
October 1, Silvia Manzo (University La Plata, Argentina)
“Freedom from impediments in politics and natural philosophy. Thomas Hobbes, Francis Bacon, and the Late Scholastic Legacy” (in person)
October 15, Friedrich Steinle (TU Berlin)
Analyzing concept dynamics. Newton and the concept of light rays
October 22, Martin Lenz (Hagen)
Christian Thomassius on Language and Thought
October 29, Alan Stewart (Columbia)
TBC
November 12, Stephan Schmidt (Hamburg)
“Spinoza and the Possibility of Finite Modes”
November 19, Sophia Regopoulos (UTN)
Dialectics and legitimation of property
November 26 – talk cancelled
(to be rescheduled in the spring)
December 3, Sergius Kodera (University of Vienna)
Francis Bacon’s fables: Prometheus
December 10, Kirsten Walsh (University of Exeter)
An Agent-Based Approach to Margaret Cavendish
January 14, Michael Francis Polios (Duquesne University), online
Spinoza and Bacon on a Science of Singular Things
January 21, Laura Georgescu (University of Groningen)
From wholes to parts: Kenelm Digby’s philosophy of the body
January 28 Erasmus Mayr (University of Erlangen)
Kant on conscience
February 18, Hannes Amberger (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie)
From Roman Law to Modern Philosophy: Early Modern Natural Law
March 18 Alan Stewart (Columbia University)
“Essays, Meditations, Colours: Francis Bacon’s Project in 1597”