Lecture by Joachim Küpper “Religion, Science, and Literature in the Middle Ages and in Early Modernity: The Divine Comedy ”

September 19, 18. 00

School of Philology, Faculty of Humanities

(Staraya Basmannaya, 21/4)

room 503

Joachim Küpper (Freie Universität Berlin)

Director of the Dahlem Humanities Center, Dean of the Humanities (since 2009) Member of Leopoldina/ German National Academy of Sciences Member of the Scientific Committee for the German Academies’ Research Programme; Member of the Standing Committee on Research of the German University Presidents’ Conference (HRK)

will give a lecture

“Religion, Science, and Literature in the Middle Ages and in Early Modernity: The Divine Comedy”

Language of instruction: English

Abstract:

In a first section, this talk will present some general reflections concerning the relation between religion, science and the arts, considered from a functional perspective. It will then proceed to commenting on the attitude towards science and the rational exploration of the world as it developed in concomitance with the emergence of (Judaeo-Christian) monotheism. In a third section, the paper will illustrate the relevant positions by commenting on passages taken from the canto Inferno 26 of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante’s text will serve as a basis that allows distinguishing the specifically medieval attitude towards science from an early modern one.

If you wish to attend the lecture but you do not have an HSE ID card, please write to:ilazareva@hse.ru