News and Events
2015-2016 Research Theme:
Interdisciplinarity in Historical Perspective
People working in today’s universities frequently emphasize innovative interdisciplinary scholarship, but they often forget that it is the disciplines themselves that are innovations—that it is only from a modern perspective that “arts” and “sciences” are discrete categories. Writers, artists, scientists, and philosophers from earlier periods took interdisciplinarity for granted in ways that seem almost impossible now, from Leonardo da Vinci’s stunning drawings of birds and flying machines to Sir Francis Bacon’s utopian fiction about the institutionalization of experimental science, the “New Atlantis.” This lecture series highlights the foundational connections among natural science, philosophy, arts and letters in early modernity. We also raise the question of how and why these fields diverged: when did natural philosophy forget its philosophical roots? When were the humanities imagined as distinct from experimental sciences? When did poetry part company with physics?
Supported by a generous grant from the Provost’s “Year of the Humanities in the University,” our collaborative research group will sponsor a series of reading groups, seminars, and lectures on this theme.
Upcoming Events
GOOGLE CALENDAR of PITT EVENTS
EVENTS FROM COMMUNITY PARTNERS PCMRS
Susan Wells (Temple University) Event Series
Thursday, February 4 - Friday, February 5, 2016
Colloquium: “The Anatomy of Melancholy and the Anxiety of Persuasion”
Thursday, February 4, 2016
12:30 PM
Humanities Center, 602 Cathedral of Learning
Humanities Center Colloquium Events typically involve conversations around a pre-distributed piece of writing. You can download the piece of writing for this event once it is available in January.
With responses by: Jennifer Waldron (Department of English)
Lecture: "In Search of the Clitoris"
Friday, February 5, 2016
3:00 PM
William Pitt Union - Lower Lounge
**More information to follow in the Spring Semester**