Laws of nature: the emergence of a new concept in early modern Europe

The early modern period has witnessed the emergence of a new concept that played a crucial role in the foundation of the new philosophy and science, the concept of the laws of nature. The sources of this concept and its metaphysical and theological underpinnings are constantly debated in the literature. The one-day conference hosted by the ICUB Humanities aims to contribute to the ongoing discussions about this concept. Papers will explore various contexts in which the appeal to nature’s laws encouraged the spread of the new science, ranging from the first attempts in the seventeenth century, up to the eighteenth-century developments.

Program:

09:30-10:00 Coffee and welcome address

10:00-12:00 Roundtable discussion: Cartesian Cosmology: from Descartes to Locke (Grigore Vida and Ovidiu Babeș). Text to be discussed: Anstey, Peter. 2018. “Locke and Cartesian Cosmology.” In Locke and Cartesian Philosophy, edited by Philippe Hamou and Martine Pécharman. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198815037.003.0003.

12:00-14:00 Lunch break

14:00-14:45 Peter Anstey (University of Sydney), Early Modern Laws of Nature: Advancing the Origins Story

14:45-15:30 Dana Jalobeanu (ICUB, University of Bucharest), Francis Bacon on Laws, Rules and Principles

15:30-16:00 Coffee break

16:00-16:45 Mihnea Dobre (ICUB, University of Bucharest), Between Cosmogony and Cosmology: a Cartesian View

16:45-17:30 Fabrizio Baldassarri (ICUB, University of Bucharest), Laws of Nature in Living Nature: A Cosmological Reference in Descartes’ Study of Plants

17:30-18:00 Coffee break

18:00-18:45 Koen Vermeir (CNRS), Laws and Circumstances: from the preternatural to laws of nature

18:45-19:30 Tinca Prunea-Bretonnet (ICUB, University of Bucharest), “Dieu dans les plis de la peau d’un rhinocéros”? Maupertuis and Reimarus on the laws of nature

The conference is organized within the project Early Modern Cosmology Between “Mosaic Physics” and Mechanical Philosophy (1650-1713) (PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-0710) and with the support of the IRH-ICUB.

Organizer: Mihnea Dobre (ICUB, University of Bucharest).