The History of Philosophy Research Cycle 2018-19

Thanks to a generous gift from Jordan and Christine Kaplan and Ken Panzer, we are pleased to inaugurate a series of two-year research cycles–periods of intense activity around areas of departmental expertise involving workshops, visitors, talks, and seminars. The research topic of the cycle will rotate among our faculty’s areas of expertise, with the first two-year cycle, taking place in 2018-19 and 2019-20, concentrating on the history of philosophy.

Below is an overview of the events planned for the research cycle for 2018-19 academic year.  Please check back for updates on this exciting new initiative.

Workshops and Symposia

For its first year, our focus will be on the History of Logic and Language.  Among our goals is to explore the path by which logic came to have the character it now has, and to understand its historical connections with mathematics and grammatical and semantic theory.  We will take an interdisciplinary approach throughout, taking advantage of the department’s traditional strengths in these areas, as well as our connections with the Departments of Mathematics and Linguistics.

The following symposia and workshops are planned:

The fall will be dedicated to ancient philosophy, with a workshop on De Anima, led by Sean Kelsey (Notre Dame), and followed by a set of seminars on the History of the Theories of Definition, to be led by Christopher Martin (Auckland) and Roderigo Guerizoli (Rio de Janeiro).

Our focus will then shift to the philosophy of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, culminating in the first annual (Pan-) American Symposium on the History of Logic, scheduled for Memorial Day Weekend, 2019. Up to 20 speakers are expected to participate in this event.

We will then turn our attention to the early modern period. In addition to our regular, annual conference which focuses on this area, we will be presenting a workshop specifically dedicated to the work of Immanuel Kant. Invited participants include Steven Engstrom (Pittsburgh), Dan Warren (Berkeley), Houston Smit (Arizona), Janelle Dewitt (UCLA) and our newly appointed Postdoctoral Fellow, Paul Tulipana.

Distinguished Visitors-in-Residence

We are also planning week-long visits by leading specialists in these areas, as well as four or five colloquia by other visiting speakers. So far, we anticipate visits from:

Christopher Martin (University of Auckland)
October 15–29
Christopher Martin has graciously accepted our invitation to be the distinguished-visitor-in-residence from October 15th–October 29th. Professor Martin is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Auckland, where he works on ancient and medieval semantics and medieval attempts to reconcile divine foreknowledge with human freedom. More information about his research can be found here.

Rodrigo Guerizoli (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro)
November 1–15
Rodrigo Guerizoli will be our distinguished-visitor-in-residence from November 1st through November 15. Professor Guerizoli is Associate Professor of Philosophy of the University of Rio de Janeiro and his written on the works of Buridan, Boethius, Duns Scotus and others. More information about him can be found here.

Karen Detlefsen (University of Pennsylvania)
Spring 2019
Karen Detlefsen has kindly accepted our invitation to be distinguished-visitor-in-residence during our spring quarter (dates to be announced.) Professor Detlefsen is Associated Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania, where her work focuses mainly on the early modern period.

Jacqueline Broad (Monash University, Melbourne)
Spring 2019
Jacqueline Broad will our distinguished-visitor-in-residence in April of 2019 (exact dates to be announced.) She is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Philosophy Department of the School of Philosophical, Historical, and International Studies at Monash University, Melbourne. Her main area of specialization is the history of philosophy, with a particular focus on women philosophers of the early modern period (c. 1650-1750).

Regular Academic Seminars

In addition, the department will be holding its regular academic seminars on the history of philosophy, one in the fall on the Logic of Pico della Mirandola, to be led by Calvin Normore and Brian Copenhaver. This will be followed in the winter by a seminar on the Birhan of the Shifa of ibn Sīnā, this one to be taught by Calvin Normore and Adam Crager.