Conference: The Sophistic Renaissance
26 September 2016, Ca’ Foscari University
This International Conference aims at exploring the influence and diffusion of the ancient sophistic traditions in early-modern Europe, fostering an interdisciplinary discussion among scholars and enhancing a new network for a future collaboration across fields. The Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage of Ca’ Foscari University hosts a growing team of scholars working on early modern philosophy and literature. The conference will investigate the early-modern rebirth of ancient sophists in different linguistic areas, including but not limited to Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and English, within all genres. Papers will examine ancient sophists’ legacy, translations and interpretations of their works, and new forms of sophistry from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century. The development of sophistry is tightly connected with Skepticism, Platonism, and Aristotelianism, and these traditions, therefore, might be addressed in papers and discussions. The participants will investigate the state-of-the-art and open new paths of research for the future. No conference on the sophistic tradition and its legacy has investigated Renaissance culture and only few, though important, studies have been dedicated to this topic. This conference on the sophistic Renaissance, supported by Katinis’ MSC research project at Ca’ Foscari University, will contribute to fill the gap in international scholarship and enhance the research in the field. The Conference will be held in the Aula Baratto, one of the historical rooms of Palazzo Ca’ Foscari. The papers will be in English, although papers in Italian are acceptable. The proceedings of the conference will be published in a special issue of the journal Philosophical Reading.
For more information, please download the poster.
