Spinoza and Anne Conway: Panspychism, Vitalism, Monism, and Beyond

We are pleased to announce an upcoming international early modern philosophy workshop at the University of St Andrews. The theme of the workshop will be to explore the philosophical systems of two seventeenth-century thinkers, Baruch de Spinoza and Anne Conway, as well as the conceptual connections between them. The workshop will feature talks from seven invited speakers.

One aim of the workshop will be to explore the intersections, common themes, and possible dialogues between the philosophies of Spinoza and Conway. Another will be to engage with interactions between Spinozism, vitalism, panpsychism, and substance pluralism in the early modern period more generally. The event will engage in a deliberate departure from some conventional narratives which tend to ignore the significance of Conway’s work, in particular. This event thus offers speakers and attendees an opportunity to examine and expand the theoretical pertinence of Spinoza’s and Conway’s work to one another and to the greater philosophical canon.

The workshop will take place all day (9:30am-5:00pm) on August 9, 2024 at the University of St Andrews (building: Edgecliffe, room: 104). All are welcome!

The event will feature talks from the following seven speakers:

- Meg Gottschall (University of St Andrews): “Kabbalistic Themes in Conway and Spinoza”

- Jonathan Head (Keele University): “Anne Conway and Spinoza: Critique and Feminist Connections”

- Nastassja Pugliese (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro): “Mental Causation in the Vitalist Epistemologies of Conway and Spinoza”

- Jasper Reid (Kings College, London): “Anne Conway and Francis Mercury van Helmont on Salvation, Time, Creatures, and Worlds”

- Antonio Salgado Borge (University of Nottingham): “Spinoza’s Mentalist Panpsychism”

- Sarah Tropper (University of Graz): “Unity in Multiplicity: The Problem of Composition in Conway and Spinoza”

- Valtteri Viljanen (University of Turku): “Conway's Hylomorphic Panpsychism”

Registration is not necessary, and attendance is open to all. Contact David Harmon at [email protected] with questions or to be added to the mailing list for further information.

Supported by the British Society for the History of Philosophy, University of St Andrews Philosophy Department, Scots Philosophical Association, and brought to you with financial support from the St Leonard’s Postgraduate College Community Fund.