Great Insights from Thinkers of the New Age

The 17th century marked a technological, scientific, and religious upheaval in Europe - an upheaval that laid the groundwork for industrial and political revolutions, as well as later European colonialism.

More effective firearms destroyed the remnants of smaller princes' power and ended the medieval social order. The printing press made books and pamphlets cheaper, encouraging literacy and learning to spread ever more widely - even among Europe's wealthier women. New "fashion crazes" - coffee, tea, and tobacco - drew thinkers together to enjoy these known as humanity's most effective stimulants. The uncertainty caused by religious wars drove thinkers to seek new ways to interpret faith, the world, and the state - and the pace of European thought began to overshadow the intellectual achievements of other regions.

The lecture series covers the era's central figures and questions as follows:

8.9. What can we know for certain: René Descartes and Elisabeth of Bohemia
15.9. The century of women philosophers: Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Mary Astell, and Anna Maria van Schurman
22.9. Why silence? Philosophy in South and East Asia in the 17th century
29.9. Philosophy and Christianity: Francisco Suárez, Antoine Arnauld, and Baltasar Gracián
6.10. European outsider religious critic: Baruch Spinoza
20.10. Philosophy and mathematical method: Blaise Pascal, Isaac Newton, and Gottfried Leibniz
27.10. State and law: Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke

The lecturer is a Master of Arts, science writer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in practical philosophy, Severi Hämäri. Free admission.