Northwestern Events Calendar

May
18
2017

David Shulman "Is There a Concept of Nature in Pre-modern South Asia?"

When: Thursday, May 18, 2017
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM CT

Where: Harris Hall, 108 , 1881 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Cost: Free and open to public

Contact: Alex Michael Hobson  

Group: Global Humanities Initiative (Buffett Institute)

Category: Lectures & Meetings

Description:

Although the literary and scientific works of pre-modern India are full of descriptions of the natural world and subtle analyses of how living beings interact with the world outside them, it is not clear that a notion of Nature-- analogous to Greek physis or Latin natura-- exists. The lecture will explore this question in the light of what appears to be a breakthrough in the sixteenth centuries in the south, with the emergence of notions of nature as an autonomous, rule-governed domain amenable to observation and induction. But what role does the observer play in relation to this newly defined domain?

Add to Calendar

Add Event To My Group:

Please sign-in