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VERSION:2.0
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260512T191532Z
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20190405T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20190405T113000
SUMMARY:Travel Writing as Thought Experiments: Science\, Francis Bacon\, and Margaret Cavendish’s Blazing World
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TZID:America/Toronto
LOCATION:Western Interdisciplinary Research Building\, London\, Canada\, N6A 3K7
DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT\n\n<p>Travel has a long and intimate history with philosophy. Travel also has a long and intimate relationship with fiction. Sometimes travel fiction acts as &lsquo\;thought experiments&rsquo\;\, experiments that we can run through in our heads. This talk explores a 1666 fiction travelogue\, Margaret Cavendish&rsquo\;s Blazing World. In the novel\, a virtuous young lady is kidnapped and travels by boat through the North Pole into a new world. I argue this is no mere piece of science fiction. Instead\, this travelogue acts as a distinctly philosophical thought experiment\, exploring the philosophy of science\, utopias\, and what it means to be real.</p>\n\nSPEAKER PROFILE\n\n<p></a>Emily Thomas</a>&nbsp\;is an&nbsp\;Assistant Professor in Philosophy&nbsp\;at Durham University. She has&nbsp\;written a lot on space and time in early modern and early twentieth century philosophy. She also has research interest in other metaphysical issues\, including substance\, change\, motion\, idealism\,&nbsp\;process\, personal identity\, and philosophy of religion. Thomas likes digging out the work of rich but under-studied figures\, including women philosophers who have traditionally been neglected in the history of philosophy.</p>\n<p>In 2018 she published two books:&nbsp\;<em>Absolute Time: Rifts in Early Modern British Metaphysics</em></a>&nbsp\;(Oxford University Press) and&nbsp\;<em>Early Modern Women on Metaphysics</em></a>(Cambridge University Press). Her work has been supported by a Veni research grant from the Netherlands Research Council and a Rising Star grant from the British Academy.</p>\n<p>Recently\, she&rsquo\;s been thinking about philosophical issues in travel. What is travel? What are maps? How has philosophy affected travel\, and how has travel affected philosophy? She&rsquo\;s writing a book on this\, for which she is represented by&nbsp\;United Agents</a>.</p>\n<p><em>Attendance is free\, but for planning purposes advance registration is requested. Registration will be available on March 1\, 2019.</em></p>\n<p><em>Can't make it in person? This event will be live streamed. Tune in to the Western University livestream channel on April 5\, 2019 at 2:00 pm EST.</em></p>
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