«Spaces of freedom in modern thought. Individuals, reformation projects, multiple societies»

I. Statement of Purpose

The project of the Summer School joins two main groups with similar interests in the reformation of the educational system of Romania, ARCHES (Association Francophone des Chercheurs Roumains en Sciences Humaines), and the Research Group on the Modern Thought from New Europe College.

ARCHES (Association Francophone des Chercheurs Roumains en Sciences Humaines) has been created by former and actual Romanian fellows in France, which have decide to come back and work in Romania; today, these ex-fellows are young faculty involved in the academic systems and they have professional contacts with their colleagues from the neighboring countries ant from West. Their main task actually is to share the acquired knowledge to the students and to use the newest teaching and assessment methods in order to fix this knowledge in a broader ant interdisciplinary audience.

The Research Group on the Modern Thought from NEC is a group of young academics trained in several Western Universities, which developed regular activities in the last two years with the purpose of extending the curricular offer for the undergraduates in Philosophy and Letters at the Romanian universities. The group organized seminars, lectures and panel discussions with young researchers and students, stressing interdisciplinarity and new methods of research and teaching subjects relating to history of philosophy, history of ideas and history and philosophy of science. Between the conclusions of our activities in the previous years we found that:

    1. There is a need at the academic level in the University of Bucharest for new or restructured offer of undergraduate courses in basic areas connected with the origins of modern thought, especially for courses which are organized around problems and questions instead of works or authors. Usual curriculum tend to teach different fields of philosophy with emphasis on names and specific works instead of problems and this tendency has, as a result, the fact that students are poorly oriented and make no connections between their field of study.

 

    1. At the level of academic community there is a need of increasing communication and exchanges as well as interdisciplinary approaches in the light of new materials and methods

 

    1. The young academic staff is often not enough informed about the newest lines of developments in their own field.

 

    1. There is little interest, in general, for enhancing the methods of teaching.

 

Therefore, the Summer School has as its main goals to provide support for young academics scholars from Romania and Eastern Europe to remedy some of this deficiencies and to establish a network which will allow them further development.

The topic of the summer school focuses on contemporary ways of understanding the origins of modernity and new methods of teaching based on interdisciplinarity and problem-oriented courses and seminars. We are proposing to organize model courses for young academics, which are, interested in developing actual courses or which want to propose new subjects in the university curriculum.

Our target group consists in young academics from Philosophy, Letters or Sciences interested in teaching courses connected with the formation of scientific concepts, competing models of individuals and new representations of societies in modern thought. The courses of the Summer school will provide new materials and new methods of teaching interdisciplinary subjects and will try to put together different ways of thinking traditional curricular topics usually taught in various programs at the university.

 

II. Summer School Structure

Opening Day
Sunday, September 2nd, 2001
17.00-19.00 Reception of the participants
19.00-20.00 Cocktail
20.00-21.00 Lecture: Dr. Elena Bulai, Associate Professor, University of Bacau: Le « conac boïeresc » de Tescani et son histoire.
Language: French
Day One
Monday, September 3th
Morning Session
9.00-10.30 General presentation of the Summer School
10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.30 Course C (I): La philosophie politique de Hobbes: l’individu et l’EtatFormat: Lecture

Course coordinator: Stefan Vianu, Institute for Philosophy, Bucharest

Topics: Hobbes construit l’Etat en partant de l’individu isolé qui constitue la base ainsi que le point d’aboutissement de son système. L’homme vit dans un monde qu’il a entièrement « fabriqué » lui-même. Il ne dépend plus d’un « donné » transcendant: il est autonome. Cependant Hobbes ne pose pas le problème de l’autonomie dans toute son ampleur, comme on le fera au siècle suivant.

Readings: Thomas Hobbes, Léviathan, Gallimard, 2000, chapitres 5, 6, 13, 17, 18, 21, 26, 33, 39.

Language: French

or

Lecture: Several questions of the new cosmology

Invited speaker: Katherine Brading, Wolfson College

Topics:

This talk will introduce the key themes in our changing understanding of the cosmos in the seventeenth century, providing a context for some of the more specialised courses. We will consider the motivations and implications of the move to sun-centred astronomy; the Cartesian laws of nature, the Galilean principle of relativity, and their Newtonian descendents; the inter-dependence between the metaphysics and the epistemology associated with the new cosmology, including the search for qualities that can be assigned a numerical value as the basic qualities from which to construct the cosmos, and Cartesian dualism.

Students will be encouraged to uncover for themselves what issues were at stake and what the main strands of argument were. The talk will be text-based, and we will concentrate in particular on the work of Galileo, Descartes and Newton. The aim will be to provide students with an understanding of not just what they said, but why it mattered in the seventeenth century and why it still matters today.

Language: English

13.00-15.00 Lunch and break
15.00-17.00 Individual Work
Afternoon Session
17.00-18.00 Course B (I): La question de l’individu et ses rapports au monde chez DescartesFormat: Lecture

Course coordinator: Dr. Vlad Alexandrescu, Associate Professor, University of Bucharest

Topics: Le tournant épistémologique de Descartes ainsi que l’argument du Cogito impliquent une rupture dans la façon dont l’individu se définit soi-même, non par rapport à une hiérarchie ontologique dont il ne serait qu’une partie, mais en rapport avec ce qu’il conçoit clairement et distinctement au moyen de sa propre pensée. Cette définition de l’individu à travers une intentionnalité réflexive donne cependant lieu à des problèmes difficiles quant à la façon de concevoir la relation de l’individu aux objets environnants et à d’autres personnes.

 

Aussi est-il nécessaire de donner en physique un nouveau principe d’individuation qui puisse remplacer le principe scolastique des formes substantielles et, en philosophie morale, un modèle susceptible de rendre compte de la diversité et la sponatanéité des rapports humains. Ces deux aménagements conceptuels deviennent les objectifs de Descartes dans les dernières années de sa vie et ils entraîneront, après 1650, le cartésianisme dans un système complexe de rapports aux philosophes européens contemporains.

Readings: Descartes, Méditations métaphysiques, I-VI.Language: French

18.00-18.30 Coffee Break
18.30-19.30 Course A (I): Major intellectual currents.Course coordinator: Dr. Dana Jalobeanu, University of Bucharest

Format: Lecture

Topics:

I. Metaphysics/Epistemology: A. Skepticism; B. Atomism; C. Mechanism and mechanical philosophy

II. Methodology: A. Hermeticism : alchemy, prisca theologia, natural magic; B. Anti-aristotelian sentiment; C. Francis Bacon and the Great Instauration. Purpose, success and extent of « baconian methodology »; D. Scientific Societies, networks and scientific correspondence

III. Mathematics and astronomy: A. The « infinite » between mathematics and natural philosophy; B. The Copernican « revolution »

Readings:

1. B.P. Copenhaver, « Natural magic, hermetism and occultism in early modern science », in R.S. Westmann, David Lindberg, Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution, Cambridge, 1990.

2. Garber, Ayers, The Cambridge History of Seventeenth Century Philosophy, 1998, The intellectual setting, vol I.

3. Keith Hutchison, « What happened with the occult qualities in the Scientific Revolution », ISIS, 73, 1982, 233-253

4. Keith Hutchison, « Supernaturalism and Mechanical Philosophy », History of Science, 21, 1983, 245-785. McGuire, Rattansi, « Newton and the Pipes of Pan », Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 21, 1966, 108-143.

6. Richard Popkin, The third force in 17th century philosophy, Brill, Leiden, 1990

Language: English

Day 2
Tuesday, september 4th
Morning Session
9.00-11.00 Seminar C (I)Topic: Hobbes et les libéraux: le problème de l’individualisme

Nous nous proposons, dans ce séminaire, de discuter les thèses principales de Hobbes et des libéraux à la lumière de certaines interprétations récentes concernant le problème de l’individu dans le monde moderne.

Coordinator: Stefan Vianu

Format: Discussions

Bibliography:

 

  • Hobbes, Léviathan, chapitres 11, 13, 17, 18, 21, 26.
  • L. Dumont, Essais sur l’individualisme, Paris, 1983, p. 80-102.
  • P. Manent, ‘Notre destin libéral’, in: H. Meier, Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss et la Notion du Politique. Un dialogue entre absents, Paris, 1990.Supplementary Readings: Alain Renaut, L’ère de l’individu, Gallimard, 1989.Language: French

     

    or

    Seminar A (I)

    TopicSupernaturalism and mechanical philosophy. Some sources of action in natural philosophy.

    Coordinator: Dr. Dana Jalobeanu

    Format: Discussions and readings.

    Language: English

11.00-11.30 Coffee Break
11.00-13.00 Open Session: Creating new academic curricula
13.00-15.00 Lunch and break
15.00-17.00 Individual Work
Afternoon Session
17.00-19.00 Seminar B (1): Les vérités éternelles et les fondations du savoirCoordinator: Vlad Alexandrescu

Format: Discussions

Reading material: J.L. Marion, Sur la théologie blanche de Descartes, PUF, 1991, Questions, pp. 9-23

Supplementary Readingibid., Livre II, pp. 231-485.

Language: French

 

or

Katherine Brading

Seminar I: TBA

 

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 3
Wednesday, september 5th
Morning Session
9.00-10.30 Course A (II): Major intellectual figures in the context and some new ideasCourse coordinator: Dana Jalobeanu

Format: Lecture and discussions

Topics:

A. Descartes and the last Scholastics

B. Bacon and the Reformation of Knowledge

C. Boyle, Newton and Scriptural Interpretation

D. Newton and Alchemy

Readings:

 

  1. Roger Ariew, Descartes and the last Scholastics, Cornell University Press, 1999
  2. J.J. Bono, « From Paracelsus to Newton: The Word of God, the Book of Nature and the Eclipse of the Emblematic World View, in Popkin, Force, Newton on Religion, Kluwer, 1999, 45-77.
  3. Daniel Garber « Experiment, community and the constitution of nature in the 17th century », Perspectives on Science, 3, 1995, pg. 173-205.
  4. Richard Popkin, « Newton’s Biblical legacy and his theological Physics », in Sheurer, Gebrock, ed. Newton’s Scientific and Philosophical Legacy, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1988.

Language: English

10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-13.00 Course B (II): La question de l’individuation au point de vue de la physique cartésienne

Course coordinator: Vlad Alexandrescu

Format: LectureTopics: Les contraintes qui pèsent sur la physiques cartésienne

Readings: Descartes, Principes de la philosophie; Ière et IIe parties;

Martial Gueroult, « Métaphysique et physique de la force chez Descartes et chez Malebranche », Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, 59; 1 et 2, 1954, p. 1-37, 113-134.

Daniel Garber, La physique métaphysique de Descartes, Paris, PUF, 2000.

Language: French

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-17.00 Individual Work
Afternoon Session
17.00-19.00 Lecture:What was the Mechanical Philosophy?Invited speaker: Dr. Daniel Garber, Professor at University of Chicago

Language: English

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 4
Thursday, september 6th
Morning Session
9.00-10.30 Course D (I): Bodies/individuals in empty space: Hobbes, Newton and LockeFormat: Lecture

Course coordinator: Brindusa Palade, Teaching assistant, NSPSPA, Bucharest)

Topics: Bodies/individuals in empty space: Hobbes, Newton and Locke

 

  1. System and individuals in Hobbes
  2. The roots of the method in Newton’s Principia
  3. Locke’s atomism

Texts: Hobbes, Thomas, Concerning BodiesThe English Works, vol. 1, ed. by William Molesworth, London, John Bohn, 1839, II.7., II.8., pp. 91-117.Hobbes, Thomas, Philosophical Rudiments concerning Government and SocietyThe English Works, vol. II., ed. by William Molesworth, London, John Bohn, 1851, from « The Preface to the Reader » p. XIV and from Chapter VIII.1., pp. 108-109.

Newton, Isaac, The Principia: mathematical principles of natural philosophy, a new translation by I. Bernard Cohen and Anne Whitman, assisted by Julia Budenz, Berkeley, London, University of California Press, 1999, Book 3, Regula III, pp. 795-6.

Freudenthal, Gideon, Atom and individual in the age of Newton: on the genesis of the mechanistic world view, Dordrecht etc., D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1986, from Chapter 1, pp. 24-8, from Chapter IV, pp. 82-4, and from Chapter V, pp. 85-91.

Locke, John, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ed. with an introduction, critical apparatus and glossary by Peter H. Nidditch, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1975, 2.2. 13-2.2.26. and 2.27. 3.

Locke, John, Second Treatise of Government, ed. by C.B. Macpherson, Indianapolis, Cambridge, Hackett Publishing Co., 1980, chapter 8.

 

Language: English

10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.30 Course C (II): Individu et communauté chez RousseauFormat: Lecture

Course coordinator: Stefan Vianu

Topics: L’autonomie humaine se déploie véritablement dans l’horizon de l’intersubjectivité, qui reste étranger à Hobbes. Chez Rousseau, l’homme est auto-nome dans la mesure où il est transformé par la loi ou par la communauté dont il fait partie et qui en est la source. Mais nous verrons que Rousseau ne réussit pas vraiment à briser le cadre de l’idéologie individualiste du siècle précédent.

Readings: Rousseau, Du contrat social, première version. Livre I, chapitres 1, 2, 6, 7; Livre II, chapitres 1, 2.

Language: French

13.00-15.00 Lunch and break
15.00-17.00 Individual Work
Afternoon Session
17.00-19.00 Panel discussionEnseigner Descartes aujourd’huiFacilitator: Daniel Garber

Participants: Vlad Alexandrescu, Katherine Brading, Dana Jalobeanu, Ioan-Lucian Muntean, Brindusa Palade, Horia-Roman Patapievici

Students will be encouraged to share their experience in teaching Descartes in their home universities. Models and techniques will be discussed, as well as « new » and old « cannons ». A special attention will be devoted to new methods of teaching.

Language: French and English

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 5
Friday, September 7th
9.00-10.30 Lecture: Yates thesis revisitedInvited speaker: Horia Roman Patapievici

Topic:

In scholar circles, under the name of the ‘Yates thesis’ is given currency to a restatement of one of Frances A. Yates’ ideas, regarding the relationships between Bruno, Copernic and the so-called ‘Hermeticism’, due to a critique of her formulated in 1974 by Robert Westman. This idea is referred to her Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), whose central idea is that Bruno can best be understood and interpreted as a Renaissance magus and part of the ‘Hermetic tradition’ rather than a scientist or a humanist. Yet, what in my view ought to be considered as a much bolder statement of her stringent conception of an existing genetic link between the Hermetic Tradition epitomised by the Renaissance magi and the birth of modern natural science in the 17th century is Yates 1968 article « The Hermetic Tradition in Renaissance Science ». – Arguably, this is the ‘true’ ‘Yates thesis’. Put it abruptly in her own words, this ‘Yates thesis’ runs as follow: « The magus had given place to the Rosicrucian, and the Rosicrucian is giving place to the scientist« . In its very essence, the ‘Yates thesis’ is but the extreme restatement of two important previous contributions. The first chronologically is Lynn Thorndyke’s The History of Magic and of Experimental Science (8 vols. 1923-58). The central underlying presupposition of this most celebrated magisterial work states that « in the history of ideas magic almost always precedes and lays the foundation for science, and some philosophical generalization almost invariably antedates a more concrete suggestion or discovery of actual fact » (Lynn Thorndike, 1941).The other important contribution to furnish benefits for the ‘Yates thesis’ was Paolo Rossi’s seminal study: Francesco Bacone. Dalla Magia alla Scienza (1957). Rossi’s ideea is that one cannot understand Bacon thought in its own setting if one continues to ignore that Bacon’s emphasis on technology is reminiscent of Renaissance animism ideals of knowing and dominating Nature.

The lecture will provide a presentation of the 1968 – ‘Yates thesis’ and an analysis of its conceptual articulation, along with an evaluation of its meaning made by a leading champion of the Renaissance studies, Charles B. Schmitt.

Language: French

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break
11.00-13.00 Seminar B: L’Anti-Cartésianisme de LeibnizCoordinators: Dr. Vlad Alexandrescu and Daniel Garber

Format: Discussions

TextDe ipsa natura, and other manuscript to be provided in a handout.

Language: French

 

or

Seminar D (I): Are social laws in principle defendable?Coordinator: Dr. Brindusa Palade

Readings: The text proposed for this debate is Harold Kincaid’s « Defending Laws in the Social Sciences », in Michael Martin & Lee C. McIntyre (eds.), Readings in the Philosophy of Social Sciences, Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 1994, pp. 111-30.

Language: English

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-17.00 Individual work
17.00-19.00 Seminar A (II): Reading group on Daniel Garber’s Descartes’ Metaphysical Physics Chicago, 1992

Coordinators: Dana Jalobeanu and Daniel GarberTopics: Descartes’Metaphysical Physics and the problem of individuation in seventeenth century natural philosophy

Readings: Chapters 3-5 from Descartes’ Metaphysical Physics

Language: English

 

or

Seminar C (II): Individu, communauté, religion chez Rousseau et Hegel

Coordinator: Stefan Vianu

Format: Discussions

Topics: Discussion autour de certains textes de Rousseau et de Hegel: l’individualisme des modernes et la nécessité de son dépassement. En quel sens la Communauté est-elle première par rapport aux individus réunis?

Readings: Rousseau, Du contrat social, première version. Livre I, ch. 1-2; 6-7, Livre II, ch. 1-2; Hegel, Principes de la philosophie du droit, § 145-146; 257-261; 273-274.

Language: French

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 6
Saturday, September 8th
Morning Session
10.00-13.00 Panel discussion: The nature of physical bodies and the new model of human individualsProponents: Vlad Alexandrescu, Katherine Brading, Daniel Garber, Dana Jalobeanu, Brindusa Palade, H.R. Patapievici, Stefan Vianu

The panel discussion will also involve 4-6 students, which will be willing to prepare specific assignments. The topic will focus on the debates concerning the nature of physical body as part of the mechanical/non-mechanical universe and their relations with the topics involving the new concept of human individual as it appears in Descartes, Hobbes, Leibniz, and others. The debate is strongly interdisciplinary.

Language: French and English

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
Day 7
Sunday, September 9th
Trip in the county
Week Two
Day 8
Monday, September 10th
9.00-10.30 Course D (II): Systems in the 17th CenturyCourse coordinator: Brindusa Palade

Format: Lecture

Topics:

 

  1. The legal system: Harrington, Locke
  2. The laws in the 17th Century mechanical philosophy

Individuation before the establishment of the laws: Newton and LockeReadings: Harrington, James, The Political Works, ed. by J. A. Pocock, Cambridge etc., Cambridge University Press, 1977, from The Commonwealth of Oceana, « The Preliminaries showing the Principles of Government », pp. 161-4; from The Prerogatives of Popular Government, Book 1, Chapter 2, pp. 401-4; from The Art of Lawgiving, « The Preface of Book I », pp. 602-3.

Locke, John, Second Treatise of Government, ed. by C.B. Macpherson, Indianapolis, Cambridge, Hackett Publishing Co., 1980, chapter 8.

Descartes, René, Principles of PhilosophyPhilosophical Writings, a selection trans. and ed. by Elizabeth Anscombe and Peter Thomas Geach, with an introd. by Al. Koyré, II. 37 – II.39.

Freudenthal, Gideon, Atom and individual in the age of Newton: on the genesis of the mechanistic world view, Dordrecht etc., D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1986, from Chapter 1, pp. 24-7.

Newton, Isaac, Opticks or A Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections, and Colours of Light, the fourth edition, London, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., 1931, p. 400.

 

Locke, John, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ed. with an introduction, critical apparatus and glossary by Peter H. Nidditch, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1975, 2.27.

Language: English

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break
11.00-13.00 Lecture: La science cartésienne: affaire d’un seul ou entreprise collective?Invited speaker: Dr. Denis Kambouchner, Université de Paris I

Topic: En dépit de quelques précautions rhétoriques de Descartes, il y a eu de nombreuses interprétations du Discours qui ont opposé le caractère de l’entreprise scinetifique telle qu’elle est décrite par Francis Bacon et l’ambition puissante de Descartes d’offrir tout un « corps de savoir », comme le fait d’un seul auteur. Les buts de cette conférence sont de:

 

  1. traiter la question sur la quantité d’intersubjectivité nécessaire dans le projet cartésien de reconstruire la « vraie philosophie »;
  2. reconsidérer le concepts cartésien de l’expérience scientifique ;
  3. traiter d’une nouvelle façon la question de la signification de l’appel cartésien à une entreprise collective susceptible de continuer et de finit son propre projet d’unification.

Readings:Francis Bacon: Novum Organum;
Descartes: Discours de la Méthode, VI; Lettre-Préface des Principes de la Philosophie; Préface des Passions de l’âme
Supplementary Readings:

D’Alembert: Discours préliminaire de l’Encyclopédie;

Francis Bacon : The Advancement of Learning.

Language: French

12.00-14.00 Lunch break
14.00-17.00 Individual work
17.00-19.00 Lecture: La mathématisation de la nature aux XVIIe et XVIIIe sièclesInvited speaker: Dr. Michel Blay, CNRS, Paris

 

La mathématisation de la nature et la construction corrélative d’une physique mathématique -ce qui suppose qu’il n’y a plus, comme dans l’Antiquité et à l’époque médiévale, deux types d’intelligibilité- est la grande affaire des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Il s’agit en effet de la mise en place d’une démarche originale qui recourt largement aux algorithmes du calcul différentiel et intégral et dont l’objet consiste à reconstruire les phénomènes de la nature à l’intérieur du domaine de l’intelligibilité mathématique. Ainsi ces phénomènes se trouvent soumis à des lois quantitatives exploitables et donc susceptibles d’assurer la prévision et, par la même, l’emprise de la raison mathématique sur les phénomènes de la nature. Ce n’est pas tout ; mathématiser tel ou tel phénomène naturel cela veut dire aussi présenter sous une forme ordonnée l’ensemble des théorèmes, propositions et résultats que l’on est parvenu à établir. Par cette organisation déductive, chaque proposition étant obtenue à partir des précédentes, une clarification et une investigation méthodique des propriétés fondamentales des divers phénomènes deviennent possible, tandis que toutes les ressources des connaissances mathématiques de l’époque peuvent être mises en œuvre.

Language: French

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 9
Tuesday, September 11th
9.00-10.30 Course A (III): Problems and conceptsCourse coordinator: Dana Jalobeanu

Format: Lecture and discussions

Topics:

A. Individuals and the nature of physical bodies

B. The problems of motion

C. Space and time

D Forces and active principles

E. Laws of nature

Readings:

R. Woolhouse, « Descartes and the Nature of Body », British Journal for the History of Science, 2/1994, pp. 19-33

Daniel Garber, Descartes’ Metaphysical Physics, Chicago, 1992, Chapter:

Alan Gabbey, « New doctrines of motion », în Garber, Ayers, Cambridge History of Seventeenth Century Philosophy, CUP, 1998, vol 1.

J.E. McGuire, « Force, Active Principles and Newton’s Invisible Realm », AMBIX, 15, 1968, 154-209

J.E. McGuire, « Natural Motion and its Causes: Newton on the « Vis insita » of bodies », în Mary Louise Gill, James G. Lennox, Self motion: From Aristotle to Newton Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1994, pg. 305-329.

J.E. McGuire, « Space, Infinity and Indivisibility: Newton on the creation of matter », in Zev Bechler, ed. Contemporary Newtonian Research, (1982), pp. 145-190

Language: English

10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.30 Panel discussion: Les vérités de DescartesCoordinator: Denis Kambouchner

Topics: Descartes n’est sans doute pas, selon la célèbre expression de Maxime Leroy, ce « philosophe au masque » qui dissimulait sa propre incroyance sous d’apparentes intentions apologétiques. Cependant, comme l’a bien signalé Leo Strauss (sans s’y attarder), l’art d’écrire de Descartes fait de chaque formule le produit d’un jeu complexe d’intentions et de stratégies. Descartes s’entend à démultiplier les exposés selon les occasions et les destinataires; et notamment, quant au rapport entre la « vraie philosophie » (morale comprise) et la religion chrétienne, certaines ambiguïtés apparaissent irréductibles. Ce sont ces ambiguïtés qu’on étudiera, à travers une série de textes, en s’interrogeant sur les conditions d’une interprétation exacte.

Readings:

Descartes: Textes préliminaires des Méditations (Epître aux Doyen et Docteurs de la Sorbonne); Lettres à Mersenne, fin mai 1637; mars 1642; à Elisabeth, 15 septembre 1645; à Chanut, 1er février 1647; à Silhon (anciennement: à Newcastle), mars ou avril 1648.

Strauss (L.), « Comment étudier le Traité Théologico-Politique de Spinoza? », in La Persécution et l’art d’écrire (Persecution and the Art of Writing, New York, 1952), trad. fr. Pocket-Agora, 1989, chap. V. (autre trad. fr. dans L. Strauss, Le Testament de Spinoza, Paris, Cerf, 1991).

Supplementary Readings:

Descartes, Discours de la MéthodeRéponses aux Secondes Objections;

Leroy (M.), Descartes, le philosophe au masque (Rieder, 1929).

Language: French

 

or

 

Seminar D (II): Individuals prior to the system: pros and cons Taylor’s reading of the Western atomistic tradition

Coordinator: Brindusa Palade

Format: Discussions

Texts: The texts proposed are J. Locke, Second Treatise of Government, ed. by C.B. Macpherson, Indianapolis, Cambridge, Hackett Publishing Co., 1980, chapter 8 (« Of the Beginning of Political Societies ») and Taylor, Charles, Philosophy and the Human Sciences, Cambridge etc., Cambridge University Press, 1985, Chapter 7 (« Atomism »), pp. 187-210.

Language: English

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-17.00 Individual Work
17.00-19.00 Topic: L’infini au XVIIe siècleFormat: Pannel discussion

Coordinator: Michel Blay

Participants: Katherine Brading, Dana Jalobeanu, H.R. Patapievici

Topic: The seminar adresses the development of mathematics, the science of motion and some cosmological questions (structure of the space, infinity of the world, multiple worlds) from the perspectives of the new concept of mathematical infinity.

Language: French and English

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 10
Wednesday, 12th September
9.00-10.30 Course C (III): Hegel: la modernité en questionFormat: Lecture

Course coordinator: Stefan Vianu

Topics: Si Hegel fait une critique de la modernité, c’est pour l’amener à son accomplissement. Les valeurs de la liberté et de l’autonomie sont pensées dans l’horizon de l’Etat, fondé lui-même sur la « Religion véritable ».

Readings:

Hegel, Encyclopédie des sciences philosophiques, § 513-517, 535-540, 552

Language: French

 

or

Katherine BradingSeminar II: TBA

10.30-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-13.00 Lecture: Modernism and secularizationInvited speaker: Dr. Virgil Ciomos, University Babes-Bolyai, Cluj

Topics: One of the most important theoretical and especially practical consequence of modernism in Eastern Europe has been mentality secularisation which is the starting point of free thinking as well as its almost imediate consequence, namely the Church separation from the State, which coincides with the birth of the public space.

Language: English

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-17.00 Individual work
17.00-19.00 Workshop: Enseigner l’histoire et la philosophie des sciencesProponents: Michel Blay, Katherine Brading, Virgil Ciomos, Denis Kambouchner, H.R. Patapievici.

Topic: Starting from some of the methodological discussions concerning teaching philosophical questions in history of science, this workshop focuses on a peculiar process of mathematization in seventeenth century: the mathematization of phenomena concerning light and colours.

Language: French and English

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 11
Thursday, September 13th
9.00-10.30 Course D (III): Contemporary reflections on the relationship between bodies and system: critiques of the 17th Century liberal atomism and of the universal systemCourse coordinator: Brindusa Palade

Format: Lecture

Topics:

 

  1. The Hegelian-communitarian critique of atomism: Charles Taylor
  2. The feminist critique of liberal individuation via connectiveness

The hermeneutical-deconstructivist approach of the systemTexts: Pelczynski, A.Z.A. « Political community and individual freedom in Hegel’s philosophy of state » in A.Z.A. Pelczynski (ed.), The State and Civil Society: Studies in Hegel’s Political Philosophy,

Cambridge etc., Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Taylor, Charles, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp. 155-76.

Taylor, Charles, Philosophy and the Human Sciences, Cambridge etc., Cambridge University Press, 1985, Chapter 7 (« Atomism »), pp. 187-210.

Frazer, Elizabeth, The Problems of Communitarian Politics: Unity and Conflict, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999, from Chapter 1, pp. 10-23.

Plumwood, Val, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, London and New York, Routledge, 1993, from Chapter 6, pp. 141-5; pp. 151-60.

Whitbeck, Caroline, « A Different Reality: Feminist Ontology », in Carol C. Gould (ed.), Beyond Domination: New Perspectives on Women and Philosophy, Totowa, New Jersey, Rowman & Allanheld, 1983.

Frazer, Elizabeth, The Problems of Communitarian Politics: Unity and Conflict, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999, from Chapter 6, pp. 190-5.

Dallmayr, Fred, « Hermeneutics and the Rule of Law », in Drucilla Cornell et. al. (eds.), Deconstruction and the Possibility of Justice, New York and London, Routledge, 1992.

Language: English

10.30-11.00 Coffee Break
11.00-12.30 Course B (III): L’explication de l’Eucharistie chez Descartes, un nouveau modèle d’individuation?.Course coordinator: Vlad Alexandrescu

Format: Lecture

Topics: La discussion portera sur les éléments supplémentaires apportés par la solution cartésienne pour expliquer le mystère de l’Eucharistie. Le cours portera aussi sur un modèle concurrent proposé par Leibniz.

Readings: Descartes, Lettres au Père Mesland, 9 février 1645?; 1645 ou 1646?, à Clerselier, 2 mars 1646.

J.R. Armogathe, Theologia cartesiana; L’explication physique de l’Eucharistie chez Descartes et dom Gabets, Martinus Nijhoff, La Haye, 1977.

Supplementary Readings:

Frédéric de Buzon, « Substantialité et identité: les corps individuels chez Descartes », in Cazzaniga, G.M. et Zarka . Ch., (éds.), L’individu dans la pensée moderne, Pisa, ETS, 1995, P. 173-187; Julian Bourg, « The Rhetoric of Modal Equivocacy in Cartesian Transubstantiation » Journal of the History of Ideas, 62, 1, 2001, p. 121-139

Language: French

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-17.00 Individual work
17.00-19.00

MODULE I(optional for Module II)

Format: LectureAlternative models of individual freedom in France in 17th century

Invited speaker: Dr. Constantin Zaharia, Senior Lecturer, University of Bucharest

Topics:

In the XVIIth century, individual freedom was not in place in the ideological system of that time : the concept per se did not exist. The moralists elaborate a different project than the mainstream discourse when they strive to raise a salutary awareness of individual capacities : drawing the portrait of a man is a rather new and important task, which, through the use of maxims, aims at using the literary effect rather than falling into the moralizing dogmatism that could be attributed to them. This leads to principles and effects that allow an individual the possibility of purely personal choice that can make him a better person.

Language: French

19.00-20.00 Tutorials
Day 12, Friday, September 14th
9.00-11.00 Seminar C: (III)Coordinator: Stefan Vianu

Format: Evaluation

Language: French

 

or

Seminar A (III)

Coordinator: Dana Jalobeanu

Format: Evaluation

Language: English

11.00-11.30 Coffee break
11.30-13.00 Seminar B (III)Coordinator: Vlad Alexandrescu

 

Format: Evaluation

 

Language: French

 

or

Seminar D (III)Coordinator: Brindusa Palade

Format: Evaluation

Language: English

13.00-15.00 Lunch break
15.00-17.00 Individual Work
17.00-19.00 Evaluation of the writing assignements for each group
20.00 Garden Party
Day 13, Saturday, September 15th
9.00-13.00 General Evaluation of the Summer School
13.00-15.00 Lunch
16.00 Departure