Event Description
Virtual workshop organized by the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Thought (University of Groningen) and Cluj Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy (Babes-Bolyai University).
What makes us appear the way we are? Which factors determine our moral, our cognitive, and physiological features? Lurking in the background of philosophical models are medical or physiological assumptions whose exposition often sheds new light on ancient, medieval and modern debates. “Climate” is a central term that figures at the intersection of many philosophical and medical discussions. This notion impacted not only doctrines about the earth, but also about its inhabitants. This way, long-lasting ideas about human and non-human life were often connected with racist and sexist implications. Focusing on the historical notion of climate, this workshop aims at approaching these debate.
Claire Crignon (Paris) Do We Need a Natural History of Air? Bacon and Boyle on Air and Weather Changes
Lisa Devriese (Leuven) ‘Northerners are strong, southerners are timid’: the Notion of Climate in Medieval Physiognomy
Vlad Ile (Cluj) Albert the Great and Climate Determinism
Marialucrezia Leone (Cologne) The Influence of the Stars on Women – Is Thomas Aquinas a Determinist?
Sara Miglietti (The Warburg Institute) Climate, Temperament, and Education: Revisiting the Huarte Controversy (16C-17C)
Thursday 5 November 2020, 9:00–13:00 CET
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