Dialogues of Enlightenment
IASH Research Theme: August 2008 - July 2012
2012 Focus:
Edinburgh and "English literature",
1762 –2012: academic and civic contexts
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Events related to the "Dialogues of Enlightenment" theme
Hume Tercentenary celebrations
Illustration "The Conversation" by Ribot Théodule Augustin
Context
Description
Events
Fellowships
Context
Conversations between two or more people have historically been a key
mechanism for the generation of inquiry, leading to enlightenment across
many fields of human endeavour. Etymologically, meaning literally 'flows
through' discussion and debate of this kind. In both Greco-Roman and Indian
classical traditions instruction, persuasion and entertainment were accomplished
through dialogue. From Sumerian dialogues and disputations, Rigvedic dialogue
chants and the epic Mahabharata to the Socratic dialogues of Plato,
Cicero's De Oratore and De Re Publica, and key works of
the early Christian tradition, our ways of thinking and learning have
been shaped by exchanges characterized by reciprocity and openness of
style and mind.
In a number of areas of human inquiry - epistemological, ontological, historical, ethical, pedagogical, political - the dialogue experienced a revival in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Fénelon's Dialogues des morts (Dialogues of the Dead, 1712), Malebranche's Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion (1688), and Berkeley's Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713) all helped to shape the resurgence of the form in different areas of inquiry. Edinburgh's residents entered fully into the formal and informal possibilities of dialogue: it was here, for example, that the sociability of David Hume, Adam Smith and their compatriots in the Scottish Enlightenment became a defining feature of social and intellectual progress. Their work and that of their successors in Europe's Enlightenments continues to inform our understanding of individual, social and political life in the twenty-first century. Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779), for example - a work considered so inflammatory that its author wished it to be published only after his death - continues to delight and instruct its readers. The Institute draws on the distinguished history of interdisciplinary discussion and publication associated both with the University and with the city of Edinburgh. Much of our current interdisciplinary research in the humanities advances through the lively exchange of ideas, and formal and informal conversations in which views are formed, evidence is tested, and conclusions are modified. At their best, these conversations become dialogues.
Dialogue allows the present to confront the past, East and West to converse, dyads and binaries of all kinds to come into communication. Practiced in philosophical, literary, religious, historical and political contexts, as a genre it offers an important heuristic for interdisciplinary study in its own right.
This IASH research theme will address all aspects of dialogue in its Enlightenment contexts: close study of key examples of the form; toleration, moderation and radicalism in the form and practice of dialogic exchange; the dialogues of Enlightenment with its 'others'; pedagogy and pleasure. We shall also be concerned with such issues as
- Dialogues between forms: words and music, text and performance, art and instruction
- Dialogues between languages, and between nations; their limit-points and breakdowns
- Socratic, scholastic, egalitarian, or other: dialogue as form and content
- the emergence of character through dialogue
- 'alternative conversations': the dialogues, for example, between centres of sociability and established institutions during the Enlightenment
- Communication and its failures; obstacles to dialogue: confrontation, power and fear
- Modern and contemporary theories of dialogue as tools of explication and enlightenment: Buber, Bakhtin, Friere
Edinburgh and "English literature," 1762 –2012: academic and civic contexts
2012 marks the 250th anniversary of the establishment of English Literature as an academic subject. In 1762 the Rev. Hugh Blair became the first incumbent of the Regius Chair of Rhetoric and Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh. Blair had been giving popular lectures on literary history, style and critical analysis under this title to an audience of students and townspeople for several years. The University’s decision to make these part of the curriculum was a landmark in the history of a discipline that has become one of the most popular subjects for undergraduate study. As Blair himself put it in his first lecture, ‘Whether the influence of the speaker, or the entertainment of the hearer, be consulted; whether utility or pleasure be the principal aim on view; we are prompted by the strongest motives to study how we may communicate our thoughts to one another with most advantage.' It was not an uncontested claim: the stakes were high then, and they remain so now. The dialogues in this series will consider such topics as Blair’s legacy and the institution of ‘English’, and the history of the discipline; they will also address the implications of historic civic contexts for the academic study of the humanities, for contemporary debates about their 'value' to society, and for the national economy. Click here for details.
Dialogues with
Hume: January - June 2011
To mark David Hume's Tercentenary in 2011 the series of
symposia in Spring 2011 will take the form of "Dialogues with Hume".
For full details of the programme click here.
The University of Edinburgh is organising a programme of events throughout
2011 to celebrate Hume's Tercentenary, details at http://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/hume.tercentenary.html
Symposia: a fortnightly series of workshops and discussions involves visiting speakers, researchers from across the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, colleagues in other Scottish universities, and graduate students. Interested participants from beyond the university are welcome. Following Plato's example, wine and soft drinks will be served to facilitate further discussion.
Darwin 200:
Dialogues with Darwin: Darwin and Edinburgh
As part of the celebrations to mark the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's
birth, the Spring 2009 programme of symposia featured a series of "Dialogues
with Darwin: Darwin and Edinburgh". The seminars explored aspects
of his work in Scottish contexts including circumnavigation, anatomy,
theology, and evolution itself. Together, these talks and discussions
led by a series of international and local experts offered new angles
for understanding Darwin as both a catalyst in the broader Enlightenment
project and a model for its subsequent impact. From Patrick Geddes to
Charles Bell to James Crichton-Browne, the Edinburgh connection offers
a rich kaleidoscope of historical and intellectual links. For full
details of the programme and abstracts click here.
The five papers
are available as IASH Occasional Papers and can be obtained by emailing
iash@ed.ac.uk
"Darwin and Lincoln on Race and Society": Friday, 13 November 2009
Additional events include:
Debating the Transnational Dissemination of Scottish Moral Philosophy 28-29 April 2011
Workshop on "Nature's Commerce: Environment and Science in the Scottish Enlightenment": 26 May 2010
Monday, 9 March 2009: Dr. Eduardo Mendieta (Philosophy Department, Stony Brook University) on "Kant in Koenigsberg: Imperial Cosmopolitanism". Click here for further details and an abstract.
Conference: "Dialogues of Enlightenment", 11 - 13 June 2009 - Annual meeting of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes
Fellowships
Applications for Fellowships in relation to any aspect of this theme are
invited from researchers in any field of the Arts, Humanities and Social
Sciences. See the Fellowships Programme.
Links to Themes Front Page / Fellowships / IASH Home Page