Epistemologia e Metodologia | Epistemology and Methodology
Em curso | In progress
The activities of this research group reflect diversity and range of Bachelard's thought which can be divided into four groups:
All these four strands were subject of communications presented at a recent conference Bachelard 50 ans après and research on them continues. However, the dimension of Bachelard's work that is given particular attention is the dimension that seems to be the least explored, namely, the role atomism plays in Bachelard's thought - it is present in his epistemological work (Les Intuitions atomistiques) as well as in his writings on time (L'Intuition de l'instant and La Dialectique de la durée). To this effect a monthly seminar 'The Void and the Atom (after and beyond Bachelard)' devoted to the exploration of atomist thought (in general as well as in Bachelard's work) has been run by Z. Kotowicz on a monthly basis. The seminar has had invited speakers, from abroad as well as scholars from Lisbon Institutions.
Lídia Queiroz is preparing a translation of Bachelard's Les Intuitions atomistiques into Portuguese which will be published in 2013.
Ana Gaspar
Ana Paula Jardim
Baudouin
Jurdant
João Cordovil
João Lopes Barbosa
José Luís Pio Abreu
Joaquim Carlos Araújo
José Félix Costa
Lídia Queiroz
Lucília Pinho
Olga Pombo
Silvio Varela
Valdemar Martins
França
Abstract: This session (and probably the next) will be devoted to the exploration of the problems of the void (absence, vacum, vacuity, zero, etc.).
Abstract: (Talk and slides in portuguese) We analise Aristotle concept of space as body, of place, and the objections to the existence of extracosmic space. We will try to emphasize that the concepts of closed space and time in Aristotle are not exactly those brougth to us by tradition of his commentators, but instead, a clever and deeper version of it. Then, we turn to Aristotle's objections to the motion in a void and the conflict of ideas between Epicurus and Aristotle. We discuss circular time in Eudemus and Proclo. Finally, we will consider whether space is immobile, inert or dynamic, from Aristotle's cosmos to Theophastus' and the Neoplatonists' views.
Abstract: After the last December session in which David Webb presented Epicurean atomism (via Michel Serres's commentary on De Rerum Natura of Lucretius) the next session will concentrate on the earlier thought of Democritus. The emphasis will be on its relation to other pre-Socratic thought and the necessary modifications to the atomist thought imposed by developments in contemporary physics.