Scholastic and Early Modern Accounts of Causation

The philosophical and scientific understanding of causation, especially concerning the natural world, underwent a dramatic transformation between the end of sixteenth century and the end of the eighteenth century. New approaches emerged and challenged the Aristotelian and Scholastic accounts, which nonetheless continue to exercise a significant influence and produce new developments.

The aim of these meetings is to provide a forum to discuss and deepen the intricate debate on causality during the period. This is the first meeting of the workshop series The early modern debate on causality: roots and perspectives .

Monday, 14 March 2016 at the Faculty of Philosophy, room Gamma

Programme

14.00-15.00: Can Laurens Loewe (KU Leuven): Peter Auriol on the metaphysics of efficient causation

15.00-16.00: Han Thomas Adriaenssen (Groningen): Causation in the Mechanisms of Perception. From William of Auvergne to Peter John Olivi

16.00-16.15: coffee break

16.15-17.15: Jean-Pascal Anfray (ENS Paris): Free agency without an agent? Suarez on the notion of a free cause.

17.15-18.15: Doina-Cristina Rusu (Bucharest): Transforming Natural Bodies. Francis Bacon on Efficient and Formal Causes

18.15-18.30: Conclusions, followed by Drinks&Dinner

This series is part of the activities of the NWO veni project “Occasionalism and the secularization of early modern science” led by Dr. Andrea Sangiacomo. The workshops are jointly organized with the OZSW Study Group in Early Modern Philosophy.