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Reading Descartes: A Reassessment of the Shaping and Transmission of Knowledge in the Seventeenth Century

Description du projet

Un examen plus approfondi des textes et des idées de René Descartes

Présenté comme le premier philosophe moderne, René Descartes (1596-1650) a été un grand penseur scientifique et un métaphysicien original. Son rôle déterminant dans la révolution intellectuelle européenne au XVIIe siècle est largement reconnu. Ce que nous ignorons en revanche, c’est pourquoi ses idées avaient autant de poids, car nous ne connaissons pas l’importance réelle accordée à ses textes. Le projet READESCARTES explorera les sources manuscrites non répertoriées, leur reconstruction textuelle et leur cartographie, et l’analyse de leur utilisation et de leur diffusion. Il s’appuiera pour cela sur des approches de lecture et de prise de notes, ainsi que sur l’utilisation des outils de cartographie numérique pour de grands ensembles de textes.

Objectif

The objective of this project is to provide the first in-depth study of the handwritten commentaries on the treatises of René Descartes. This study is important because such sources were crucial in shaping the intellectual revolution occurring in Europe during the 17th century, in which Descartes played a foremost role. However, we still do not have a complete grasp of why his ideas were so important to this revolution, because we do not know how his texts were closely read. The key to understand this process of reading and knowledge-building is the analysis of this kind of sources, up to now neglected by historians. Andrea Strazzoni has preliminarily ascertained their crucial role for the reception of Cartesianism while working on two monographs in the history of philosophy and science, making him the ideal researcher for this project. He has assessed the existence of 109 not retrieved items, plus 38 already retrieved ones. These commentaries constitute a body of literature whose complete analysis will be made possible by this project, focused on those authored by the first teachers of Cartesian ideas: Johannes de Raey and Johannes Clauberg. This study is now timely, because it benefits from new directions of investigation: (a) the study of reading and note-taking practices, (b) a transnational approach to the history of thought, (c) the application of digital mapping tools to large amounts of texts. Such approaches are now at the centre of new researches, led at Venice Ca’ Foscari by the applicant’s supervisor, Marco Sgarbi, and by Dirk van Miert at Utrecht, destination of a secondment. The project integrates these approaches in order to pursue its objective along three lines of investigation: (1) the search for uncatalogued handwritten sources, (2) their textual reconstruction and mapping, (3) the analysis of their use and dissemination. This project will enable Strazzoni to become a leading scholar in early modern philosophy, and to apply for a tenured position.

Champ scientifique (EuroSciVoc)

Mots‑clés

Programme(s)

Thème(s)

Régime de financement

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Appel à propositions

(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinateur

UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA
Contribution nette de l'UE
€ 183 473,28
Coût total
€ 183 473,28