Past Events

Conatus and Self-Preservation: Spinoza on Self-Causation

Josefine Klingspor (Stanford)

Kant’s conception of form in the Inaugural Dissertation

Pia Schneider (UC Berkeley)

Cavendish on Matter and the Mind

Alison Peterman (Rochester)

Abstract: Margaret Cavendish claims that things like ferns and planets are 'perceptive and knowing' and that matter is 'sensitive and rational'. So she is usually described as a panpsychist, but as I will argue in this talk, she is not. Drawing on Cavendish's unique version of materialism, I offer an interpretation of her theory of human and other animal minds that reflects her resistance to human exceptionalism, capturing the distinctive features of minds while considering them as just some among the countless ways that different things have of interacting with the world around them. We have no reason to think that all of those ways are mind-like because we have no reason to think, as we like to, that minds provide a privileged window onto nature.

Bruno's Cosmology: Between Philosophy and Science

Eve-Aline Dubois (UC Berkeley and Université de Namur)

Abstract: Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) is often portrayed as an enfant terrible in the history of science, though he saw himself first and foremost as a philosopher exercising his freedom of thought. This study explores his 1584 cosmological model, as developed in three works written during his time in England. Through this lens, we will examine his vision of the universe and his radical opposition to Aristotelian principles.

The challenge of Spinoza’s atheism and the shifting core of Christian faith

Andrea Sangiacomo (Groningen)

Abstract: Spinoza has been accused of atheism since his own lifetime, and his views on God remain among the most debated aspects of his philosophy today. Discussions often center on whether Spinoza’s concept of ‘God’ can be reconciled with the dogmatic views of positive religion—identified in Spinoza’s historical context with Judaism, Protestant Christianity, or Catholicism. Rather than approaching this issue categorically by asking whether Spinoza was an atheist, this paper suggests a different path: examining the tensions between Spinoza’s ideas and those of his religious interlocutors to better understand the challenges and limitations on both sides. I focus on the brief epistolary exchange between Spinoza and his former friend Albert Burgh, who had converted to Catholicism. I argue that this exchange reveals an epistemic dimension of Spinoza’s stance on religion, highlighting both the normative role of reason in establishing truth and a deflationary view of the authority of positive, historical testimony. I further suggest that this perspective aligns with certain themes of the Protestant tradition while also reflecting Spinoza’s personal experience of excommunication from the Jewish community in Amsterdam. From a philosophical standpoint, the Burgh exchange invites a shift of emphasis—from how God is conceived to who can enter into an authentic relationship with God. This concern was not invented by Spinoza; it was already central to the Protestant Reformation and becomes, through Spinoza’s philosophy, an enduring feature of modern thought.