Does Intellectual History need Digital Humanities? #IHDH2018

Sign up using this form by 4.12.2018:

Contact person:

At the moment it is still not entirely clear how methods from data science will contribute to increasing our understanding of the history of human thought. It is, however, imperative to seriously consider and study the possibilities of these methods as applied to historical data across different periods and geographical locations. This two-day workshop brings together scholars of the history of philosophy and practitioners of digital humanities to discuss the needs and possibilities of computational methods.

For this workshop a set of different scholars will discuss how they see the use of digital methods in their research. We will also have presentations that highlight different approaches to applying computational methods to the study of history of philosophy. The idea is to improve our understanding of how methods of data and text mining can be useful in the study of intellectual history and the history of philosophy. These demonstrations will be commented by invited discussants with a different background.

NB! Reading material: every presenter has suggested one article that the participants of the workshop should read before the workshop to orient towards different sessions.

Tuesday 11.12.2018 U37 lecture room (Unioninkatu 37, 1st floor; )

10:15–10:45 Opening of the workshop and objectives, Mikko Tolonen (Helsinki)

10:45–12:15 Session 1: (Helsinki): “History of Philosophy: Some Desiderata”. Discussant: (Helsinki) –

12:15–13:30 Lunch break

13:30–15:00 Session 2: (Cambridge): “Conceptual change”. Discussant: (Helsinki) –

15:00–15:30 coffee

15:30–17:00 Session 3: (Sydney): “Re-creating a Renaissance Library: A Conversation on Digital Methods and Scholarly Aims” Discussant: (Turku) –

Wednesday 12.12.2018 Language Centre (Kielikeskus), seminar room 205 (Fabianinkatu 26, 2nd floor; )

10:15–12:00 Session 4: (Sydney): “From Sensibilité to Sympathy: Communication and Concept Migration in Early Modern France and Britain”. Discussant: (Helsinki) –

12:00–13:15 Lunch break

13:15–15:00 Session 5: (Helsinki): “Why does metadata matter to intellectual historians” Discussant: Paul Nulty (Cambridge) –

15:00–15:30 coffee

15:30–17:00 Session 6: (Tampere): “How to make sure a phrase wasn’t used – the example of "time as a measure of rest"?” Discussant: Viivi Lähteenoja (Helsinki) –

Reading materials:

(please read these before the workshop so you are better able to participate in discussions in each session)

Session 1:

Session 2:

Session 3:

Session 4:

Session 5:

Session 6:

This workshop is the second symposium on Computational Approaches to Intellectual History and the History of Philosophy organised by . In the Spring 2017, the focused on demonstrating exploratory work necessary for an understanding of how methods of data and text mining can be useful in the study of intellectual history and the history of philosophy. Earlier we have also organised a conference on .

Sign up using this form by 4.12.2018:

CC-BY licensed images from