University of New South Wales Faculty of Arts and Sciences Faculty Conference
University of Sydney Institutional Strengths Support

International Society for Intellectual History Fourth International Conference

Dates: Evening of Sunday 7 July 2002 to afternoon of Friday 12 July 2002

Theme: The conference will look at the development of modernity in Western Europe (and its colonies) between the publication of Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus and Vesalius’ De Humani corporis fabrica in 1543, and the French Revolution. The focus will be on the intellectual history of the period, in the history of philosophy, science, political thought, and culture, with concomitant attention to the issue of the organisation of knowledge. One of the aims of the conference is to try to recapture certain unities of thought that were present in the period: for example, physical theory, mathematics and medicine all fell in various ways under the rubric of natural philosophy, and natural philosophy was seen to have deep implications for natural theology. There is something to be gained from trying to bring out these connections in a detailed way, for it is in terms of these connections that the mentality of the modern era was shaped.

Among the streams that are envisaged are:

• Historiography of early modern thought: The early modern era’s own historiography of its place in the history; the identification of movements that, while they were well represented at the time, have been passed over as either of marginal influence or were simply a throwback to an earlier era (eclecticism and the 17th century scholastic textbook tradition are examples); as well as broader themes such as the historiography of the Scientific Revolution.
• Seventeenth-century natural philosophy: the textbook tradition, the new ‘physico-mathematics’, the shift from a theologically-driven metaphysical foundation for natural philosophy to the idea that natural philosophy underlies natural theology.
• How the early modern era represented itself: how it saw its relation to the past, its distinctive iconography, what it considered its superiority to lie in. In particular, the public promotion of science (natural philosophy) in the 18th century.
• The material culture of early modern societies and their impact on intellectual culture: museums, the book trade, navigation, etc.
• Constitutional and Republican thought in the 17th and 18th centuries and how they shaped modern political structures.
• The rejection of modernity in two scientifically and culturally advanced cases: Iberia (where an attempt was made to reform medieval culture in a completely new direction) and the case of China (where Western developments were treated as marginal to China’s own concerns). These cases bring to light the problematic nature of the emergence of a scientific culture, and undermine those triumphalist accounts whereby science comes effortlessly to replace humanistic and other forms of thinking.

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Conference organisers

Professor Stephen Gaukroger & Dr John Schuster

Organising committee: Dr Peter Anstey, University of Sydney. Professor Conal Condren, University of New South Wales. Dr John Gascoigne, University of New South Wales. Professor Stephen Gaukroger, University of Sydney. Professor Moira Gatens, University of Sydney. Dr John Schuster, University of New South Wales.

Web site

http://hrp.arts.unsw.edu.au/events/modernity/

This website will be upgraded after 1 August, and by the end of February will have a provisional timetable etc.

CALL FOR PAPERS:

Offers of papers, which should be accompanied by a 200-300 word abstract should be sent to <stephen.gaukroger@philosophy.usyd.edu.au>, or to: Professor Stephen Gaukroger, Department of Philosophy, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. Offers of papers should arrive by 1 Jan 2002. We envisage 2-hour sessions of three related papers, with half an hour for discussion at the end of the session, so papers should not exceed 30 minutes each. It should be indicated in the abstract which of the streams set out above the paper falls under. Proposals for whole sessions (of three papers) are welcome. The lanaguage of the conference is English.

Important: If you need a decision on your paper before 1 January, for example because you need to apply for travel funding before then, please send your abstract by e-mail Stephen Gaukroger with the date by which you need the decision.

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PROJECTED REGISTRATION AND ACCOMMODATION COSTS:

Please note that these are only projected costs and will be finalised at the beginning of 2002. They are included here to give participants an idea of what costs will be.

Registration:

US$245/£165 OR US$225/GB£150 for ISIH members. Non-members will probably wish to join ISIH since the reduction in registration for members exactly equals the annual membership of ISIH (also, ISIH members will be eligible for help with travel costs: see below).

Registration provisionally includes:

• breakfast, morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea on full conference days.
• reception on the Sunday evening
• Greek banquet and play (‘Kenelm Digby and the Liquid Empire’, by John Sutton) on the Tuesday evening
• Conference dinner on the Thursday evening.

College Accommodation (at venues): 6 nights, Sunday to Friday inclusive: single room: US$200, UK£130 (shared slightly cheaper)

Hotel Accommodation (next to venues): 6 nights, Sunday to Friday inclusive: price per room: US$450, UK£300.

Help towards travel costs:

Members of the International Society for Intellectual History (there is a link to their webpage on the conference webpage) who have had their paper accepted for the conference will be eligible to apply for help towards travel costs from the Foundation for Intellectual History. The amounts available are limited, and it is expected that they will go primarily to those from countries or institutions who are unable to offer funding to scholars for travel.

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