MEN AND IDEAS IN THE RENAISSANCE

Zakład Historii Filozofii Nowożytnej i Współczesnej Instytutu Filozofii i Socjologi PAN zaprasza na seminarium z cyklu 

MEN AND IDEAS IN THE RENAISSANCE

Dr Alicja Bielak (Wydział „Artes Liberales” UW)

 przedstawi referat pt.

Daniel Naborowski’s (1573–1640) adoxography and the discussions upon Nihil

Seminarium odbędzie się w dniu 21 maja 2020 w godz. 14.00 na platformie ZOOM. Osoby zainteresowane mogą się łączyć do seminarium przez link:  https://zoom.us/j/98383603930

Organizatorzy: Danilo Facca, Valentina Lepri

Daniel Naborowski’s adoxography and the discussions upon Nihil

Daniel Naborowski (1573–1640), one of the most important poets of Polish Baroque literature, was also a medic by education and a diplomat by profession.  The aim of this presentation is to indicate the interpretative benefits of exploring the biographical context of his oeuvre in terms of the migration of knowledge within the res publica litteraria network. Thanks to his command of foreign languages and his constant travelling, Naborowski established many bonds of intellectual friendship (i.a. Théodore de Bèze, Cesare Cremonini, Daniel Cramer). In order to present the whole spectrum of Naborowski’s contacts, I will discuss the sources of his “adoxographic” poems Shadow (Cień), Rose (Róża), Cock (Kur), January Calends (Kalendy styczniowie), i.e. devoted to worthless and trivial subjects. Until now, these works have been considered original compositions, but they are in fact translations from Jean Passerat, a French professor of rhetoric at the court of king Henry III. Already during his studies, Naborowski visited France and Italy (and took a course in mechanics under Galileo). After entering the Radziwiłł family’s employ, the poet gained new opportunities to expand the network of contacts in the course of his diplomatic missions to France, England, and Germany.

I will attempt to prove that Naborowski’s adoxographical works referred to French and Italian discussions upon Nothing (Nihil)as a philosophical and theological category. Apart from borrowing from the French tradition (which analyzed the concept of ‘Nothing’ mainly from an adoxographic point of view), Naborowski’s contacts with Italian intellectuals allow us to put forward a hypothesis about the impact that the Italian circles of Accademia degli Incogniti and Accademia degli Incauti might have had on the Polish poet. By juxtaposing the treatises created at these academies with Naborowski’s writings, I will demonstrate the specific way in which the concept of Nihil was understood at the turn of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Numerous great discoveries made in physics at that time (such as the exploration of vacuum) had also affected the discussions upon the notion of ‘Nothing’, which in itself had been redefined and gained a new ontological status. As a result of both the scientific and philosophical discussions, it came to be conceptualized as an existing thing.

Alicja Bielak earned her PhD from University of Warsaw (2019) in culture and religion studies. Her scientific interests focus on intellectual history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with particular emphasis on: emblematics, early modern nihilism, and the life and work of Daniel Naborowski. On these topics she published several articles both in Poland and abroad. Her last book is a critical edition of Jesuit emblematic meditations by Marcin Hińcza Plęsy Aniołów. She has participated in several European research projects (i.a. ReIReS, Retopea), and currently is the PI of research project by National Science Centre entitled Polish Meditative Emblems in the 16th Through 18th Century: Sources, Realizations, and Aims. She works at the Faculty of “Artes Liberales” (University of Warsaw).

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

IFiS PAN

Log In

Create an account
Europejski Sondaż Społeczny | European Social SurveyEuropejski Sondaż Społeczny | European Social Survey