Scottish Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy III

The SSEMP is a yearly event that brings together established scholars, young researchers and advanced graduate students working in the field of Early Modern Philosophy. 

This year, the event will take place in the brand new Queen Mother Library on campus. For more info on the location, see: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/about/main. Please note that the SSEMP cannot provide funding for travel or accommodation. Information concerning possible hotels and B&B’s close to campus will be provided once the program is set.

For those who might consider staying a couple of days extra, note that the British Society for the History of Philosophy Annual Conference will take place immediately after, on 11-12 May, at the University of Dundee, about 1 1/2 hours train ride south of Aberdeen. The theme of this conference is: “Spinoza, the Infinite and the Eternal.” For further information and the call for papers, see: http://spinozaresearchnetwork.wordpress.com

Program

Wednesday, 9 May

9.00-9.15 Welcome and Coffee. Sponsored by Oxford University Press.

Session I: Locke
Chair: Mogens Lærke (University of Aberdeen / ENS de Lyon)

9.15-10.00 Ruth Boeker (University of St. Andrews), “'Locke on Persons and Personal Identity.”

10.00-10.45 Dietmar Heidemann (University of Luxemburg), “Self-Knowledge and Intuition. Locke’s Critique of Descartes.”

10.45-11.00 Break

Key Note Speech
Chair: Julie Klein (University of Villanova, Philadelphia)

11.00-12.00 Stephen Gaukroger (University of Aberdeen / University of Sydney), “Sensibility and Metaphysics: “Diderot, Hume, Baumgarten, and Herder.”

12.00-13.30 Lunch at the Bishop’s Table (Speakers and chairs only)

Session II: Leibniz
Chair: Emily Thomas (Cambridge University)

13.30-14.15 Matteo Favaretti Camposamieri (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia), “De veris et falsis ideis. Leibniz on Ideas as Truth-Bearers.”

14.15-15.00 Larry Jorgensen (Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY), “Leibnizian Naturalism.”

15.00-15.30 Break

Session III: Spinoza I
Chair: Beth Lord (University of Dundee)

15.30-16.15 Markku Roinila (University of Edinburgh / University of Helsinki), “Leibniz and Spinoza on Affects and Perception.”

16.15-17.00 Jon Miller (Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario), “Spinoza on the Life According to Nature.”

Thursday, 10 May

9.00-9.15 Coffee

Session IV: History of Philosophy and History of Science
Chair: Justin Steinberg (Brooklyn College, City University of New York)

9.15-10.00 Michael Olson (University of Villanova, Philadelphia), “The Camera Obscura and the Nature of the Soul: An Examination of Early 18th Century German Metaphysics and Natural Science.”

10.00-10.45 Gabriel Alban-Zapata (ENS de Lyon), “Pierre Chanet's Psychophysiology and Louis de La Forge’s reconstruction of the Cartesian theory of mind.”

10.45-11.00 Break

Key Note Speech
Chair: Catherine Wilson (University of Aberdeen)

11.00-12.00 Yitzhak Melamed (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore), “Spinoza’s Mereology.”

12.00-13.30 Lunch at The Bishop’s Table (speakers and chairs only)

Session V: Hobbes and Hume
Chair: Michael LeBuffe (Texas A&M)

13.30-14.15 Martine Pecharman (CNRS – Maison Française d’Oxford), “Hobbes on Human Nature and Language.”

14.15-15.00 Dario Perinetti (UQAM, Montreal), “Morality and the Historical Point of view: Reading Hume’s A Dialogue.”

15.00-15.30 Break

Session VI: Spinoza II
Chair: Valtteri Viljanen (University of Turku)

15.30-16.15 Andrea Sangiacomo (ENS de Lyon), “What a Body can do: Spinoza against Occasionalism.”

16.15-17.00 Eric Schliesser (University of Ghent), “Spinoza and the Newtonians on Motion and Matter (and God, of course).”

There is no registration fee. All are welcome to attend.

Organization: Mogens Lærke (University of Aberdeen / CERPHI, ENS de Lyon).
Contact: [email protected]