Continuity and Innovation in Medieval and Modern Philosophy of Knowledge, Mind and Language

The Dawes Hicks Symposium
10.30am - 5.30pm, Friday, 28 October 2011
British Academy, 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1

Main speakers: Martin Lenz (Humboldt University, Berlin); Robert Pasnau (University of Colorado); Dominik Perler (Humboldt University, Berlin)

Commentators (respectively): Michael Ayers FBA (University of Oxford); John Hawthorne (University of Oxford); Andrew Pyle (University of Bristol)

Chairman/organizer: John Marenbon FBA (Trinity College, Cambridge)

How modern is modern philosophy? Recently specialists in medieval philosophy have been examining how scholasticism was developed up to the Seventeenth Century, whilst experts on seventeenth-century philosophers have been looking back to scholasticism. This symposium
explores these continuities and changes.

About the Speakers:
Martin Lenz, whose recent book (Lockes Sprachkonzeption, 2010) shows how far Locke’s philosophy of language is far from a crude mentalist stereotype, will speak on "Essences and
Signification: Medieval Heritage and Innovation in Locke's Philosophy of Language".

Robert Pasnau, author of Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671 (2011) looks at "Epistemic Divisions of Labor: Who Should Know, Who Should Believe, and Who Should be Left in the Dark", with special reference to Aquinas, Locke and Averroes.

Dominik Perler, who has just published Transformationen der Gefühle. Philosophische Emotionstheorien 1270-1670, will discuss "What Are Mental Faculties? A Debate in Late Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy", looking especially at Olivi, Ockham, Descartes and Malebranche.

Attendance is free, but registration is required for this event.  Please click here to register via our website.