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Call for Applications Theme: Structuring Nature Type: Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Summer School Institution: Humboldt University of Berlin Free University of Berlin Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Location: Berlin (Germany) Date: 28.7.–3.8.2019 Deadline: 15.5.2019 __________________________________________________ Does the structure of nature inform the structure of our knowledge of nature, or do our own (artificial) divisions of science affect the way in which we divide the natural world? Questions concerning the structure of nature, and the structure of our knowledge of the natural world have long occupied philosophers and scientists working in the Western tradition, up until the present day. Especially in the ancient, medieval and early modern periods, Greek, Arabic, and Latin writers have developed a variety of approaches to construct ordered, rule-based frameworks to divide and study nature in all of its complexity. As a result of enduring interest and continual developments, in both theoretical and practical knowledge of nature, various thinkers from these traditions have introduced novel criticisms to these systems, and others have shown through experiment and observation that long-standing preconceptions about the natural world, and our knowledge of it, do not stand up to scrutiny. Over the course of one week, this interdisciplinary summer school will provide a conspectus of some of the many historical and modern problems associated with any attempt to formalise boundaries between minerals and other inert substances, plants, animals, and humans. It will also consider how some thinkers pushed the epistemological limits of natural science, attempting to fit new abstract theories and mathematical approaches to the study of the natural world. “Structuring Nature” brings together a wide range of experts from ancient and medieval philosophy, classical philology, and the history of science, whose research addresses these problems in a number of language traditions, across a wide historical range. These experts will introduce students to the foundational thematic and methodological reflections on the structures of nature from antiquity to early-modern philosophy and science. By bringing together historians of the scientific and philosophical traditions that have developed on the shores of the Mediterranean Basin, the summer school will provide the students with a unique opportunity to appreciate the historical contingencies of approaches, methods, and perspectives in the human attempts at understanding the structure of nature. In the closing discussions of each day, students will have the opportunity to critically reflect on ways of combining different methods and approaches that may eventually overcome current fragmentations and departmentalisations in the academy. Application Process Graduate and undergraduate students are welcomed to apply. Interested students must submit an updated CV and a short cover letter describing their research, methods, and aims by 15 May 2019 at the following email address: [email protected] Applicants who plan on applying for external funding should specify that on their applications. Price and Attendance Attendance to the summer school is free. Students whose application is successful are meant to participate to the entire length of the summer school and to give a talk at the final workshop. Exceptions can be made in consideration of qualified reasons. Participants will be provided with a certificate of attendance (or, upon request, any other paper certifying her/his attendance) at the end of the summer school in order to allow students a positive recognition of credits from their home institutions. Please note that the organising institution will not offer meals or lodging to the participants. Students are therefore invited to apply to funding and studentships at their home institutions. Participants will be updated about changes to the programme via email, but they are also invited to consult the summer school webpage at the following link: http://structuringnature.wordpress.com For any further question, you can reach the organisers at the following email address: [email protected] Organisers The summer school is organised by Nicholas Aubin (HU Berlin), Vincenzo Carlotta (HU Berlin), Mattia Cipriani (FU Berlin), Katja Krause (MPIWG), Nicola Polloni (HU Berlin). Contact: Dr Nicola Polloni Humboldt Universität zu Berlin Institut für Philosophie Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin Germany Email: [email protected] Web: http://structuringnature.wordpress.com __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ __________________________________________________
