The Philosophy of Émilie Du Châtelet

Workshop on the Philosophy of Émilie du Châtelet   

The Harvard Philosophy Department and the Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop is pleased to host this international workshop on the philosophy of Émilie du Châtelet.   

This is a pre-reading format and the sessions will focus on discussion of the circulated papers. This is a free event and all are welcome to attend. Please register in advance at [email protected] to receive the papers and for planning purposes.     

Saturday, February 22nd, 2020 9.30 am - 5.00pm

Location: Robbins Library, Second Floor, Emerson Hall, Harvard University  

9:30 – 10:00:  Coffee and Welcome
10:00 – 11:15: Emilie Du Châtelet between Leibniz and Kant: Eberhard’s Reference to Du Châtelet and the Transcendental Turn

Author: Ruth Hagengruber (Director of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Paderborn, Germany)  Commentator: Katherine Brading (Duke)  

11:30 – 12:45: The Underlying Principles of Du Châtelet's Institutions de Physique - Bridging Empiricism and Rationalism

Author: Clara Carus (Harvard)  Commentator: Andrew Janiak (Duke)  

12:45 – 1:45:  Catered lunch in the Philosopher’s Lounge*  

1:45 – 3:00: Newtonianism and the Physics of Institutions de Physique

Author: Marius Stan (Boston College)  Commentator: Alison Peterman (Rochester)  

3:15-4:30: Hypotheses fingo. Certainty and Imagination in Du Châtelet's Institutions de Physique

Author: Anne-Lise Rey (Paris Nanterre, France)  Colin Chamberlain (Temple)  

4:30-5:00: Cheese and Wine Reception

Many thanks to the Jorge Paulo Lemann Funds for course innovation and entrepreneurship, the Harvard History of Philosophy Workshop and the Department of Philosophy at Harvard University for making this event possible.  

Organized by: Prof. Jeffrey McDonough and Dr. Clara Carus  

*Third Floor Emerson Hall. All are welcome to attend the catered lunch, but please let us know if you are coming by February 7 so that we can order enough food.