Scattered Matter: Atoms and Reality according to Nicholas of Autrecourt

Reading Group, HU Berlin (DE)

Winter Semester 2019

Atoms and matter

Is reality a continuous dimension or a cluster of discrete entities? And what is reality, if such a question can be even asked? This semester’s reading group on matter will engage with these key philosophical questions in relation to a very particular medieval author, Nicholas of Autrecourt (1299-1369). The group will meet once a week on Friday at 11am (cum tempore) to read and discuss together Nicholas of Autrecourt’s Universal Treatise (Exigit Ordo). The reading group will be in English. At 2.30pm, the group will gather again for an additional meeting in which invited international scholars will give lectures on topics related to the problems discussed during the reading group.

Instructor

Reader
Nicola Polloni

Bibliography

Nicholas of Autrecourt, The Universal Treatise, translated by Leonard A. Kennedy, Richard E. Arnold, and Arthur E. Millward (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1971). Additional material will be provided during the reading group.

Programme

This is an open reading group. If you are interested on the topic and would like to join us (also via Skype), feel free to get in touch at pollonin@hu-berlin.de.

18 October 2019 at 12.00 in room 231
Introduction and introductions

25 October 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
Prologues to the Universal Treatise, discussed by Larissa Gniffke.

1 November 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
The eternity of things, discussed by Yudi Jiang.

8 November 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
Indivisibles, discussed by Shivani Agrhari, Vincenzo Carlotta, and Rosa Matera.

15 November 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
The vacuum and Material substance and quantity, discussed by Han Thomas Adriaenssen.

29 November 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
Movement, Discussed by Elena Baltuta.

6 December 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
Whether everything which appears is and Whether exactly the same thing can be seen clearly and obscurely, discussed by Dominic Dold.

12 December 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
Imaginable beings and The intellect, Discussed by Ed Reno.

19 December 2019 at 11.00 in room 231
Whether the same cause can produce specifically different effects, discussed by Nicola Polloni.