The Medieval Institute is pleased to present the eighteenth lecture in the Graduate Student Invitation Series with Hanna Gentili (University of Hamburg, Institut für Jüdische Philosophie und Religion), who will be speaking on "Natural Philosophy in the Arabic-Hebrew-Latin Landscape: Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Corpus." About the Talk Averroes’ works received their authoritative form in Latin in the Renaissance printed projects, culminating in the mid-sixteenth century Giunta editions. From this moment, up to modern editions, Averroes’ text remained “frozen in place.” But in reality, it was never like that. Dynamic and fluid, Averroes’ works were constantly evolving, circulating in various forms already in the Arabic world. This complication escalated as they reached the Latin world, often via the mediation of Hebrew, as further hands became involved. Finally, there was the hidden space that occupied the transitions from manuscript to print. Through a series of examples on the macro and micro levels, my talk will breathe life into this process, with focus on Averroes’ natural philosophy. I will argue that examining the texts across languages and media has philosophical and historiographical implications, and that we should adopt new methods to better understand philosophy and its study in premodern circles.  About the Speaker Hanna Gentili (Ph.D, Warburg Institute) is a historian of Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy. Her research focuses on the consolidation and circulation of the Hebrew philosophical corpus in manuscript and early print. She is currently a Research Associate at the University of Hamburg where she is working on Averroes’ natural philosophy in Hebrew and Latin within the ERC Project HEPMASITE (Hebrew Philosophical Manuscripts as Sites of Engagement). Before joining the University of Hamburg, she worked at the crossroads of philosophy and kabbalah in the Digital Humanities project Ilanot and in 2023 she was the curator of the Hebrew collections at the British Library. Her first monograph—about the philosophical notebook of the fifteenth-century Jewish intellectual Yoḥanan Alemanno in the context of the Italian Renaissance and Jewish philosophical training—is currently in preparation. Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

The Center for Italian Studies is pleased to host a lecture by Professor Nicoletta Pireddu (Georgetown University) titled: The Activism of Imagination: Fictions of Europe Between Utopia and Disenchantment Against the backdrop of political, economic, and social problems that reinforce the idea of Europe’s existential crisis, this talk redraws the attention to constructive aspects of the Europe-building discourse often muffled by a rising Euroscepticism. In particular, it explores the contribution of literature both as the repository of a European cultural memory and as a forerunner of crucial components of the ongoing European integration design. A selection of modern and contemporary Italian fiction, in dialogue with a broader literary and intellectual discourse at pivotal junctures of the European project, addresses the role of utopia not as a compensatory wishful projection but, rather, as creative thinking propelled by the critical and transformative power of imagination. Nicoletta Pireddu is inaugural director of the Georgetown Humanities Initiative and professor of Italian and Comparative Literature at Georgetown University. Her research revolves around European literary and cultural relations, cosmopolitanism, borders and migration, history of ideas, and translation studies. She has published over eighty articles and numerous monographs and edited volumes, among them Antropologi alla corte della bellezza. Decadenza ed economia simbolica nell’Europa fin de siècle, which received the American Association for Italian Studies Book Award; The Works of Claudio Magris: Temporary Homes, Mobile Identities, European Borders, and most recently, Migrating Minds: Theories and Practices of Cultural Cosmopolitanism (2023 American Comparative Literature Association “René Wellek Prize for the Best Edited Essay Collection”). The lecture is co-sponsored by the Nanovic Institute.The Italian Research Seminar, a core event of the Center for Italian Studies, aims to provide a regular forum for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students, and colleagues from other universities to present and discuss their current research. The Seminar is vigorously interdisciplinary, and embraces all areas of Italian literature, language, and culture, as well as perceptions of Italy, its achievements and its peoples in other national and international cultures. The Seminar constitutes an important element in the effort by Notre Dame's Center for Italian Studies to promote the study of Italy and to serve as a strategic point of contact for scholarly exchange.Originally published at italianstudies.nd.edu.

Join the McGrath Institute for Church Life for a special book launch and lecture on "The Concept of Woman: A Synthesis in One Volume" by Sr. Prudence Allen, RSM. Topics of discussion will include the development of a philosophically coherent concept of woman from the pre-Socratics to the 20th-century personalists. Brief presentations will be led by Sr. Ann Astell, Ph.D., John Cavadini, Ph.D., and Abigail Favale, Ph.D., with a response by the author, Sr. Prudence Allen, RSM. Originally published at mcgrath.nd.edu.

Despite Sikkink's previous claims that we have entered an age of accountability with a “justice cascade” of human rights prosecutions, her most recent data show that there has been a marked decline in domestic, foreign, and international prosecutions worldwide after peaking in 2010. In the talk, she will discuss how changes in both the conditions for the demand and the supply of accountability have contributed to this new trend of declining prosecutions, especially because of the retrocession of liberal democracies.     This lecture is part of a larger series organized by Faculty Fellows Scott Mainwaring and Karrie Koesel entitled “Perspectives on World Politics.” Since its inception in 2016, this series aims to spotlight the Kellogg Institute’s strength in comparative politics by featuring distinguished scholars who speak on a topic related to each year’s theme.   More information here 

Democratic erosion can be stopped. There are good theoretical reasons and first empirical evidence for that. However, stopping democratic erosion is not equivalent to democratic recovery. What possible trajectories are there for the post-erosion phase? How can democratic recovery—as one of them—be captured? These questions have not been found sufficient attention but are highly relevant for developing strategies of post-erosion democratic reconstruction. This lecture presents a framework covering these questions and thus offering an approach for addressing post-erosion developments.Kellogg Lecture by Marianne Kneuer.   More information here

Join us for an insightful fireside chat featuring Volodymyr Turchynovskyy, dean of the social sciences faculty at the Ukrainian Catholic University, in conversation with Nitesh Chawla, founding director of the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society. The conversation will explore the unique challenges and triumphs of leading a university during wartime while simultaneously advocating for freedom and preparing for postwar recovery and a secure future. It will also serve as a continuation of the ongoing UCU-ND dialogue—a partnership that began 20 years ago and has proven invaluable, particularly during challenging times. Additionally, it builds on Professor Nitesh Chawla’s recent visit to UCU to further deepen our understanding of resilience and leadership in higher education. This event is co-sponsored by the Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.About the SpeakerVolodymyr Turchynovskyy is the dean of the faculty of social sciences at the Ukrainian Catholic University and a returning visiting scholar at Notre Dame’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies. Recently (September 2024), he contributed to and edited Resilient Universities, a newly published book in the Integral Human Development series—a collaborative project between UCU and Notre Dame.Professor Turchynovskyy holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the International Academy of Philosophy in Liechtenstein. His academic focus includes moral philosophy, the impact of wartime disruptions, and the role of integral human development in advancing postwar recovery. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated thoughtful leadership, promoted ethical discourse and strengthened the resilience of Ukrainian higher education institutions, even in the face of crisis.