- University of Bucharest, Institute for Research in the Humanities (IRH-ICUB), Department Memberadd
Research Interests:
In this article, I make available the transcription of a letter of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten to Georg Friedrich Meier, which has hitherto remained completely unknown to commentators. After contextualizing the writing, I examine in... more
In this article, I make available the transcription of a letter of Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten to Georg Friedrich Meier, which has hitherto remained completely unknown to commentators. After contextualizing the writing, I examine in particular the two most significant elements of the text: the King’s order to Meier to deliver a class on Locke and Baumgarten’s observations on the dispute with Gottsched. As for this aspect, I linger on the war declared to aesthetics, both as a term and as a concept, by Gottsched and his followers, so as to consider Baumgarten’s position in a wider theoretical framework.
http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ds/article/view/23073
http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ds/article/view/23073
Research Interests:
The aim of this essay is to examine Baumgarten's conception on the history of aesthetics and on his role in it. In the first part, I analyze the way in which Baumgarten's aesthetic innovation has been perceived by two of his disciples,... more
The aim of this essay is to examine Baumgarten's conception on the history of aesthetics and on his role in it. In the first part, I analyze the way in which Baumgarten's aesthetic innovation has been perceived by two of his disciples, namely Georg Conrad Winckelmann and Georg Andreas Will. While the former puts the emphasis on the modernity of aesthetics, Will seems more inclined to attribute the birth of aesthetics to ancient philosophers. Despite this apparent disagreement, my thesis is that the basic positions of the two authors are very similar and find their rationale in Baumgar-ten's peculiar treatment of the issue. Consequently, I set out to inquire into Baumgarten's theory, in the attempt to better understand his reconstruction of the empirical history of aesthetics. My purpose is to see how this empirical history is framed within a more systematic history which establishes its guidelines and marks its turning points. Eventually, I take into account the possible implications of this position with regard to the question of the origin of aesthetics.
Research Interests:
In this essay, I attempt to provide new insight into the last two Philosophische Brieffe von Aletheophilus, a moral journal edited by Alexander G. Baumgarten. My primary aim is to show that the journal, contrary to what has been hitherto... more
In this essay, I attempt to provide new insight into the last two Philosophische Brieffe von Aletheophilus, a moral journal edited by Alexander G. Baumgarten. My primary aim is to show that the journal, contrary to what has been hitherto unanimously stated by scholarship, comes to an end not in 1741, but in 1744. In the light of this new dating, I analyse the journal’s relationship with Baumgarten’s first collegium aestheticum (1742/43), some elements of which I try to recover indirectly. Lastly, I advance some hypotheses about the topic of the last letter of the journal, which is as yet completely unknown. Full text: http://www.fupress.net/index.php/ds/article/view/20619
Research Interests:
In this essay, the Author outlines the history of the idea of «vital knowledge» – a kind of knowledge which elicits an action – as it is discussed in the German context until the end of the Enlightenment. The aim is to show its semantic... more
In this essay, the Author outlines the history of the idea of «vital knowledge» – a kind of knowledge which elicits an action – as it is discussed in the German context until the end of the Enlightenment. The aim is to show its semantic development from its Lutheran basis to its philosophical adoption in Thomasius and Wolff. Finally, the paper investigates the employment of the concept in aesthetics, from Baumgarten to the late Enlightenment, and its new foundation on the obscure perceptions of the soul, which turn out to be man’s most powerful motive.
Research Interests:
In this essay, the Author outlines the genesis of Baumgarten's idea of "extensive clarity" in Wolffian philosophy. Starting from Wolff's analysis of examples and their singular clarity, the focus is on the rhetorical and philosophical... more
In this essay, the Author outlines the genesis of Baumgarten's idea of "extensive clarity" in Wolffian philosophy. Starting from Wolff's analysis of examples and their singular clarity, the focus is on the rhetorical and philosophical achievements of Johann Peter Reusch. In particular, the aim is to show the importance of two dichoto-mies introduced by Reusch – the distinction between " sensual " and " intellectual " clarity and that between the extensive and the intensive perfection of cognition – in the development of Baumgarten's more famous distinction between extensive and intensive clarity and, in general, in the foundation of modern aesthetics.
Research Interests:
This paper, divided into three parts, wants to highlight the strong influence exerted by Sulzer’s Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste on the European philosophical and literary context of the late eighteenth century. In the first... more
This paper, divided into three parts, wants to highlight the strong influence exerted by Sulzer’s Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste on the European philosophical and literary context of the late eighteenth century. In the first section, the aim is that of verifying the recurrent criticisms levelled against Sulzer’s encyclopedia, but also the reasons of its most determined supporters in the German-speaking milieu; in the second part, I focus on its reception in France, where the Lexikon was widely read and used as a source for other dictionaries; finally, I outline the great success Sulzer enjoyed among Italian scholars, who considered him one of the most important philosophers of his age.
Research Interests:
The conference aims to explore original perspectives on theological-related subjects in the German Enlightenment up to Kant, with particular focus on the Late Enlightenment. Over the last few decades, the relevance of the theology of the... more
The conference aims to explore original perspectives on theological-related subjects in the German Enlightenment up to Kant, with particular focus on the Late Enlightenment. Over the last few decades, the relevance of the theology of the Enlightenment has gained unprecedented momentum among scholars of the eighteenth century, going well beyond its traditional boundaries and arenas. The rapidly growing interest in the topic is reflected in an intense editorial activity that brought attention to lesser known texts. Key issues such as secularization and re-sacralization have raised questions that touch upon a range of disciplines. It is now clear that particularly during the second half of the eighteenth century metaphysics, aesthetics, epistemology, politics, ethnology, and the arts benefitted from fruitful exchanges with theology, resulting in a range of new approaches to the relation between the human and the divine.
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Paola Basso (Bucharest)
Stefanie Bucheanu (Paris)
Gideon Stiening (Munich)
Lloyd Strickland (Manchester)
Endre Szécsényi (Aberdeen/Budapest)
We welcome proposals for 30-minute papers on topics including, but not limited to:
the relation between natural theology and revealed theology
natural theology and physico-theology
the relation between natural theology and other metaphysical disciplines, such as ontology, cosmology, and psychology
the role played by theology at large in the development of the philosophical disciplines, with particular regard to aesthetics and ethics the relevance of the theological reflection at the Berlin Academy
the role of feelings and emotions in revealed theology
the significance of homiletics and theological hermeneutics in the intellectual debate
Catholic and Lutheran perspectives on faith
secularization and re-sacralization
connections between religion and the idea of Enlightenment
exchanges and transfers between German Enlightenment and the European Enlightenment
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Paola Basso (Bucharest)
Stefanie Bucheanu (Paris)
Gideon Stiening (Munich)
Lloyd Strickland (Manchester)
Endre Szécsényi (Aberdeen/Budapest)
We welcome proposals for 30-minute papers on topics including, but not limited to:
the relation between natural theology and revealed theology
natural theology and physico-theology
the relation between natural theology and other metaphysical disciplines, such as ontology, cosmology, and psychology
the role played by theology at large in the development of the philosophical disciplines, with particular regard to aesthetics and ethics the relevance of the theological reflection at the Berlin Academy
the role of feelings and emotions in revealed theology
the significance of homiletics and theological hermeneutics in the intellectual debate
Catholic and Lutheran perspectives on faith
secularization and re-sacralization
connections between religion and the idea of Enlightenment
exchanges and transfers between German Enlightenment and the European Enlightenment
Research Interests:
23-24 May 2019 Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, Humanities division Organisers: Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet (University of Bucharest) and Alessandro Nannini (University of Bucharest/New Europe College) Deadline for... more
23-24 May 2019
Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, Humanities division
Organisers: Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet (University of Bucharest) and Alessandro Nannini (University of Bucharest/New Europe College)
Deadline for submitting the abstracts: 6 April 2019
The conference aims to explore original perspectives on theological-related subjects in the German Enlightenment up to Kant, with particular focus on the Late Enlightenment. Over the last few decades, the relevance of the theology of the Enlightenment has gained unprecedented momentum among scholars of the eighteenth century, going well beyond its traditional boundaries and arenas. The rapidly growing interest in the topic is reflected in an intense editorial activity that brought attention to lesser known texts. Key issues such as secularization and re-sacralization have raised questions that touch upon a range of disciplines. It is now clear that particularly during the second half of the eighteenth century metaphysics, aesthetics, epistemology, politics, ethnology, and the arts benefitted from fruitful exchanges with theology, resulting in a range of new approaches to the relation between the human and the divine.
Confirmed invited speakers:
Paola Basso (Bucharest)
Stefanie Buchenau (Paris)
Paola Rumore (Turin)
Gideon Stiening (Munich)
Lloyd Strickland (Manchester)
Endre Szécsényi (Aberdeen/Budapest)
Research Institute of the University of Bucharest, Humanities division
Organisers: Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet (University of Bucharest) and Alessandro Nannini (University of Bucharest/New Europe College)
Deadline for submitting the abstracts: 6 April 2019
The conference aims to explore original perspectives on theological-related subjects in the German Enlightenment up to Kant, with particular focus on the Late Enlightenment. Over the last few decades, the relevance of the theology of the Enlightenment has gained unprecedented momentum among scholars of the eighteenth century, going well beyond its traditional boundaries and arenas. The rapidly growing interest in the topic is reflected in an intense editorial activity that brought attention to lesser known texts. Key issues such as secularization and re-sacralization have raised questions that touch upon a range of disciplines. It is now clear that particularly during the second half of the eighteenth century metaphysics, aesthetics, epistemology, politics, ethnology, and the arts benefitted from fruitful exchanges with theology, resulting in a range of new approaches to the relation between the human and the divine.
Confirmed invited speakers:
Paola Basso (Bucharest)
Stefanie Buchenau (Paris)
Paola Rumore (Turin)
Gideon Stiening (Munich)
Lloyd Strickland (Manchester)
Endre Szécsényi (Aberdeen/Budapest)