Hume, Rousseau, History and Method - workshop

00-18.00, Kielikeskus (Fabianinkatu 26), seminar room 203

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About the seminar: There is a revival in the study of classic political thinkers in which history, historical writings, and historical understanding are taken as central to understanding particular theories and philosophies. That is not to say research only based on contextual historical approaches, but research in which historical works and understanding are taken as essential to assessing the ideas of given thinkers. A case in point is James Harris’ 2015 , in which the History of England plays a crucial role. Further, as this emphasis on historical understanding continues to grow in scholarly importance, new sources and methods are being – and will be – turned to. To this end, the computational history group at the University of Helsinki has been exploring the use of digital methods with respect to the study of intellectual history. To address and reflect on these, and other, issues, this afternoon seminar brings together Hume and Rousseau scholars, as well as methodological practitioners and theorists.

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Programme:

13.00-13.15 : Opening of the seminar

13.15-14.30 (St Andrews): ‘”Power founded only on injustice and violence”? Hume on the Glorious Revolution’

14.30-15.30 : “Imagined Histories: facts and conjecture in Rousseau's political thought”

15.30-16.00 Coffee break

16.00-17.00 Mikko Tolonen & : “Use of Royalist and Whig Sources in Hume’s History of England”

17.00-18.00 : “When does it mean. Detecting semantic change in historical texts”

18.00 Closing of the seminar

The workshop is organised by the project History, Nature and Empire in Eighteenth-Century Europe and supported by HELDIG and The Helsinki Centre for Intellectual History.