Early Modern Interest Group
Time: Friday afternoons every other week - see calendar below, 1:30–3:00 pm Central time
Place: Hybrid format. 737 Heller Hall and online via Zoom.
The early modern interest group (EMIG) reads and discusses primary and secondary literature focused on natural philosophy from the early modern period, especially in the work of key philosophers such as Descartes, Leibniz, and Kant. Our basis for selecting readings is to study works that are routinely ignored in the philosophy curriculum. Natural philosophical discoveries and debates are often pertinent to understanding why these philosophers adopted particular positions or rejected others, and our goal is to become familiar with a wide range of these neglected works. For more information, please contact Bennett McNulty ([email protected]).
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Fall 2026
This term we will be reading TBC.
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Our meetings are informal, and some participants need to arrive late or leave early because of scheduling conflicts. All faculty and graduate students from the University of Minnesota and area colleges and universities are welcome to attend whenever they would like (without invitation), and without giving advanced notice. Undergraduates can be included by invitation. If you know of an undergraduate who is well suited and possibly interested, please contact Bennett McNulty ([email protected]) so an invitation can be extended.
Spring 2026
This term we will be reading the correspondence between Anthony Collins and Samuel Clarke (1707-1708), utilizing the Uzgalis edition of the epistolary exchange.
January 30: Introduction (p. 9-36) - PDF; Note on Text (p. 41) - PDF; Collins' Letter to Mr. Dodwell (p. 45-51) - PDF; Clarke's Defense (p. 53-63) - PDF.
February 13: Collins' Reply to Clarke's Defense (p. 65-88); Clarke's Second Defense (p. 89-114)
February 27: Collins' Reflections on Clarke's Second Defense (p. 115-150). PDF.
March 27: Clarke's Third Defense (151-195)
April 10: Collins' Answer to Clarke's Third Defense (197-248)
May 8: Note that this meeting occurs after the end of the Spring semester.
Clarke's Fourth Defense (249-281)
Autumn 2025
This semester, we’ll be reading the Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence. Our edition will be G.W. Leibniz and Samuel Clarke: Correspondence, edited by Roger Ariew, Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000.
September 12: Meeting cancelled
September 26: Introductions (pp. vii–xv, 1–3), Leibniz’s First Letter (p. 4), Clarke’s First Reply (pp. 5–6)
October 10: Leibniz’s Second Letter (pp. 7–11), Clarke’s Second Reply (pp. 11–14), Leibniz’s Third Letter (pp. 14–18), Clarke’s Third Reply (pp. 18–22)
October 24: Leibniz’s Fourth Letter (pp. 22–28), Clarke’s Fourth Reply (pp. 29–35)
November 7: Leibniz’s Fifth Letter (pp. 36–66)
November 21: Clarke’s Fifth Reply (pp. 66–87)
Spring 2025
This semester, we’ll be working through selections from Jerome Cardano’s work, On Subtlety, with our resident Cardano expert, Bill Branson (St. Cloud State University). The text is available online.
January 24: On Subtlety, Editor’s Introduction (pp. xi–xxxvii), and Book I (pp. 15–55)
February 7: On Subtlety, Book V (pp. 274–334)
February 21: On Subtlety, Books XI: On the Necessity and Form of Man and XII: On Man’s Nature and Temperament (pp. 635–700)
March 7: No meeting
March 28: On Subtlety, Book XIV: On the Soul and the Intellect, and XV: On Useless Subtleties (pp. 737–771), and Cardano, The Book of My Life, Chapters 41, 42, & 47
April 18: No meeting
April 25: On Subtlety, pp. 803–58; Cardano, The Book of My Life, Chapters 41 (pp. 189–98), 42 (pp. 199–203), & 47 (pp. 240–7).
Fall 2024
This semester, EMIG is reading Catherine Wilson’s Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022). (The UMN Libraries has free access to the title through Oxford Scholarship Online.)
September 6: Wilson, C. 2022. Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Introduction (pp. 1–22)
September 20: Wilson, C. 2022. Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Chapters 1 and 2 (pp. 23–67)
October 4: Wilson, C. 2022. Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Chapters 3 and 4 (pp. 68–109)
October 25: Wilson, C. 2022. Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Chapters 5 and 6 (pp. 110–155)
November 8: Wilson, C. 2022. Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Chapters 7 and 8 (pp. 156–99)
December 6: Wilson, C. 2022. Kant and the Naturalistic Turn of 18th Century Philosophy, (Oxford: Oxford University Press). Chapters 9 and 10 (pp. 200–48)