Teacher(s)
Language
French
Prerequisites
The course assumes a basic background in the history of philosophy, especially ancient and medieval.
Ability to read texts in French and English.
Ability to read texts in French and English.
Main themes
The History of Modern Philosophy course will seek to deepen the knowledge of one or more authors or currents of the period concerned, starting from a given theme or corpus.
The course will pay particular attention to understanding the reasons why European philosophers have called themselves "modern" since the 16th century, and will question this claim to novelty both in relation to past European philosophical systems and to non-European cultures in this period of "great discoveries" and nascent globalisation.
The course will pay particular attention to the genesis of the chosen topic and, based on an updated state of research, will attempt to shed light on this topic and to advance the questions related to it.
The historical scope of the course is from the 16th to the early 19th century and may include both canonical authors and representatives of an alternative canon, focusing on traditions neglected by mainstream historiography: scholastic traditions, regional traditions, the contribution of women to modern philosophy, or problems specific to interculturality (e.g., the dialogue initiated with non-European traditions in modernity, Chinese philosophy in particular).
The systematic field will not be restrictive, since the course may focus simultaneously or alternatively on problems of theoretical philosophy or practical philosophy. Particular attention will be paid to research tools and translation issues.
The course will pay particular attention to understanding the reasons why European philosophers have called themselves "modern" since the 16th century, and will question this claim to novelty both in relation to past European philosophical systems and to non-European cultures in this period of "great discoveries" and nascent globalisation.
The course will pay particular attention to the genesis of the chosen topic and, based on an updated state of research, will attempt to shed light on this topic and to advance the questions related to it.
The historical scope of the course is from the 16th to the early 19th century and may include both canonical authors and representatives of an alternative canon, focusing on traditions neglected by mainstream historiography: scholastic traditions, regional traditions, the contribution of women to modern philosophy, or problems specific to interculturality (e.g., the dialogue initiated with non-European traditions in modernity, Chinese philosophy in particular).
The systematic field will not be restrictive, since the course may focus simultaneously or alternatively on problems of theoretical philosophy or practical philosophy. Particular attention will be paid to research tools and translation issues.
Content
SCIENCE, SEX AND UTOPIA
Women philosophers in Antwerp, 1650-60
(seminar taught by Prof. Jacob Schmutz, February-May 2024)
The aim of this seminar will be to understand how philosophy was embodied in everyday life in the seventeenth century, outside colleges and universities, based on the intertwined destinies of two remarkable women who met in Antwerp in the 1650s: Margaret Cavendish (1623-73), Duchess of Newcastle, English royalist refugee, woman of letters and eccentric fashionista, who lived with her husband in the house of the late painter Pieter Paul Rubens (†1640); and then Christine, Queen of Sweden (1626-89), who had welcomed Descartes in Stockholm (where the French philosopher died in 1650), and who arrived in Antwerp in 1654, dressed as a man, then secretly converted to Catholicism in Brussels, before going to Rome for the rest of her life.
We will reconstruct the careers of these two women philosophers in three contexts: (1) the intellectual, artistic and scientific microcosm of Antwerp - and its links with the Court in Brussels and the University of Louvain ; (2) the milieu of Antwerp's colleges and convents, starting with the Jesuit College, the other male religious orders (Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites) and the two female Carmelite convents, one of which may have inspired Cavendish to write his extraordinary play The Convent of Pleasure (1668), full of homoerotic ambiguities; (3) the innovations of modern philosophy in general, which form the context of Margaret and Christine's philosophy (in particular the works of Descartes and Hobbes).
There are three themes in particular: science, because Margaret Cavendish was a remarkable woman of science, a pioneer of anti-aristotelianism at the time, and the first woman to be admitted to a session of the Royal Society in London; sex, because both Christine and Margaret explored, in their writings and in their lives, new ways of understanding gender, sexuality and married life; utopia, for Margaret Cavendish was the author of a work of philosophical science fiction (The Blazing World, 1666), in which science, sexuality and political utopia are combined in a highly original way, and Christine of Sweden, through her conversion and her future acquaintances - notably the Luso-Brazilian Jesuit António Vieira (1608-97) in Rome - was animated by an apocalyptic spirit.
Women philosophers in Antwerp, 1650-60
(seminar taught by Prof. Jacob Schmutz, February-May 2024)
The aim of this seminar will be to understand how philosophy was embodied in everyday life in the seventeenth century, outside colleges and universities, based on the intertwined destinies of two remarkable women who met in Antwerp in the 1650s: Margaret Cavendish (1623-73), Duchess of Newcastle, English royalist refugee, woman of letters and eccentric fashionista, who lived with her husband in the house of the late painter Pieter Paul Rubens (†1640); and then Christine, Queen of Sweden (1626-89), who had welcomed Descartes in Stockholm (where the French philosopher died in 1650), and who arrived in Antwerp in 1654, dressed as a man, then secretly converted to Catholicism in Brussels, before going to Rome for the rest of her life.
We will reconstruct the careers of these two women philosophers in three contexts: (1) the intellectual, artistic and scientific microcosm of Antwerp - and its links with the Court in Brussels and the University of Louvain ; (2) the milieu of Antwerp's colleges and convents, starting with the Jesuit College, the other male religious orders (Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, Carmelites) and the two female Carmelite convents, one of which may have inspired Cavendish to write his extraordinary play The Convent of Pleasure (1668), full of homoerotic ambiguities; (3) the innovations of modern philosophy in general, which form the context of Margaret and Christine's philosophy (in particular the works of Descartes and Hobbes).
There are three themes in particular: science, because Margaret Cavendish was a remarkable woman of science, a pioneer of anti-aristotelianism at the time, and the first woman to be admitted to a session of the Royal Society in London; sex, because both Christine and Margaret explored, in their writings and in their lives, new ways of understanding gender, sexuality and married life; utopia, for Margaret Cavendish was the author of a work of philosophical science fiction (The Blazing World, 1666), in which science, sexuality and political utopia are combined in a highly original way, and Christine of Sweden, through her conversion and her future acquaintances - notably the Luso-Brazilian Jesuit António Vieira (1608-97) in Rome - was animated by an apocalyptic spirit.
Bibliography
Un dossier de textes originaux et une bibliographie complète seront mis à disposition des étudiantes et étudiants. La capacité de lire des textes philosophiques en anglais est nécessaire pour participer activement au Séminaire
Sources:
Cavendish, Margaret, Philosophical Letters, London, 1664
Cavendish, Margaret, The Description of a New World, called the Blazing-World, London, 1666
Cavendish, Margaret, Grounds of Natural Philosophy, London, 1668
Cavendish, Margaret, The Convent of Pleasure, London, 1668
Cavendish, Margaret, The Description of a New World Called The Blazing World And Other Writings, ed. Kate Lilley, London: William Pickering, 1992
Descartes, René, Correspondance avec Elisabeth de Bohême et Christine de Suède, édition de Jean-Robert Armogathe, Paris: Gallimard, 2013
Bibliographie secondaire:
Burenstam, Carl Johan Reinhold (1891), La reine Christine de Suède à Anvers et Bruxelles, 1654-1655, Bruxelles: Vromant
Cullen Khanna, Lee (1994), "The Subject of Utopia: Margaret Cavendish and Her Blazing-World", Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: World of Difference. Syracuse University Press, p. 15–34
Detlefsen, Karen "Margaret Cavendish and Thomas Hobbes on Reason, Freedom, and Women", in: Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes, ed. Nancy J. Hirschmann & Joanne H. Wright, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012, p. 149–168
Rees, Emma L.E. (2004), Margaret Cavendish: Gender, Genre Exile, Manchester University Press
Sarashon, Lisa (2010), The Natural Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish: Reason and Fancy during the Scientific Revolution. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Shapiro, Lisa; Detlefsen, Karen (2023), The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern Philosophy, London: Routdlege, 202
Vander Motten, J.P. ; Daemen-De Gelder, Katrien (2014), „Margaret Cavendish, the Antwerp Carmel and The Convent of Pleasure”, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 1
Walters, Lisa (2014), Margaret Cavendish: Gender, Science and Politics, Cambridge University Press
Wynne-Davies, Marion (2010), '"Fornication in My Owne Defence': Rape, Theft and Assault Discourses in Margaret Cavendish's The Sociable Companion", in: Expanding the Canon of Early Modern Women's Writing, ed. Paul Salzman, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 4–48
Sources:
Cavendish, Margaret, Philosophical Letters, London, 1664
Cavendish, Margaret, The Description of a New World, called the Blazing-World, London, 1666
Cavendish, Margaret, Grounds of Natural Philosophy, London, 1668
Cavendish, Margaret, The Convent of Pleasure, London, 1668
Cavendish, Margaret, The Description of a New World Called The Blazing World And Other Writings, ed. Kate Lilley, London: William Pickering, 1992
Descartes, René, Correspondance avec Elisabeth de Bohême et Christine de Suède, édition de Jean-Robert Armogathe, Paris: Gallimard, 2013
Bibliographie secondaire:
Burenstam, Carl Johan Reinhold (1891), La reine Christine de Suède à Anvers et Bruxelles, 1654-1655, Bruxelles: Vromant
Cullen Khanna, Lee (1994), "The Subject of Utopia: Margaret Cavendish and Her Blazing-World", Utopian and Science Fiction by Women: World of Difference. Syracuse University Press, p. 15–34
Detlefsen, Karen "Margaret Cavendish and Thomas Hobbes on Reason, Freedom, and Women", in: Feminist Interpretations of Thomas Hobbes, ed. Nancy J. Hirschmann & Joanne H. Wright, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012, p. 149–168
Rees, Emma L.E. (2004), Margaret Cavendish: Gender, Genre Exile, Manchester University Press
Sarashon, Lisa (2010), The Natural Philosophy of Margaret Cavendish: Reason and Fancy during the Scientific Revolution. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Shapiro, Lisa; Detlefsen, Karen (2023), The Routledge Handbook of Women and Early Modern Philosophy, London: Routdlege, 202
Vander Motten, J.P. ; Daemen-De Gelder, Katrien (2014), „Margaret Cavendish, the Antwerp Carmel and The Convent of Pleasure”, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen 1
Walters, Lisa (2014), Margaret Cavendish: Gender, Science and Politics, Cambridge University Press
Wynne-Davies, Marion (2010), '"Fornication in My Owne Defence': Rape, Theft and Assault Discourses in Margaret Cavendish's The Sociable Companion", in: Expanding the Canon of Early Modern Women's Writing, ed. Paul Salzman, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 4–48
Faculty or entity
