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Omnes omnia omnino. Recent Research on Jan Amos Komenski and the origin of modern science in the 17th century

event-date: 05.12.2018 - 06.12.2018
Place: Institute of Philosophy, Room 85
organizer: The Department of Polish Philosophy
     

  

Jan Čížek, Ph.D. is a Czech historian of philosophy, currently working as an assistant professor at the University of Ostrava. His scholarly interest lies in the history of Early Modern philosophy, namely the works of Jan Amos Comenius, Francis Bacon, Johann Heinrich Alsted; besides that, he is interested in the study of English deism and utopian studies (from Plato to the 17th century). Last published: Komenský a Bacon: Dvě raně novověké cesty k obnově vědění (Comenius and Bacon: Two Early Modern Paths to the Restoration of Knowledge, 2017), The Conception of Man in the Works of John Amos Comenius (2016).

 

Wednesday, 05.12.2018, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

I. History of the Czech philosophical thought: From the beginnings to the 17th century
The lecture will discuss the development of Czech philosophical thought: from its beginnings in the 9th century, through the Hussitism and its predecessors, to Petr Chelčický and Jan Amos Comenius.

Wednesday, 05.12.2018, 5:30 to 7p.m.
II. Jan Amos Comenius in the context of Renaissance and Early Modern philosophy
The aim of this talk is to introduce the work of a Czech philosopher, theologian, and educational reformer Jan Amos Comenius (1592-1670) on the background of Renaissance and Early Modern philosophy. First of all, it will be presented the intellectual development of Comenius, and subsequently will be described his inspirations (The Reformation, T. Campanella, F. Bacon, Herbert of Cherbury) as well as his intensive intellectual struggles (namely with R. Descartes).

Thursday, 06.12.2018, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
III. The anthropology of Jan Amos Comenius
In this talk, the author will analyse the development of Comenius’s understanding of man: from his pessimistic early works (e.g. Labyrinth of the World) to his grandiose project of the reformation of all human affairs (in General Consultation on the Improvement of Human Affairs). We will follow Comenius’s early contempt for man as a miserable being and trace its transformation into the belief that man is the second God and the ruler of the whole world who is endowed with unlimited free will and able to do anything he wishes.

Thursday, 06.12.2018, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
IV. The Mosaic Physics as a dead end of premodern natural philosophy?
In the last decades, there has been an intensive discussion concerning the genesis of the modern science. The scholars have dealt, however, mainly with its canonical and the most successful proponents such as Bacon, Leibniz or Newton. The aim of this talk is to introduce in the 17th century very common and popular approach to a natural philosophy known as Mosaic Physics, i.e. an attempt to re-establish knowledge of nature solely on literal reading the Holy Scripture (or the books written by Moses – therefore Mosaic). On the background of this task, the author will claim that the genesis of the modern science was not as a linear process as it seemed to be.

Published Date: 29.11.2018
Published by: Anna Tomaszewska