Professor Dana Jalobeanu
University of Bucharest
Fables, emblems and a call for action: Francis Bacon’s ‘fraternities’ and their European reception
Please register for the event here.
When:
Monday 10 March, 2025: 17:45 – 19:15
Where:
VUB Main Campus Etterbeek
Pleinlaan 2
1050 Elsene
Raadzaal C2.07a
*Free of charge*
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Professor Cornelis J. Schilt invite you to a lecture (10 March) by Professor Dana Jalobeanu (University of Bucharest) entitled “Fables, emblems and a call for action: Francis Bacon’s ‘fraternities’ and their European reception”. This lecture is part of the ERC lecture series ‘Knowledge in International Perspective’ (KIIP).
Contact: nicolo.cantoni@vub.be and demetrios.paraschos@vub.be
Professor Dana Jalobeanu: “The concept of ‘brotherhood’ or ‘fraternity’ features prominently in Bacon’s writings, from the early literary devices to the posthumous New Atlantis. Fraternities are vividly depicted, as in the celebrated ‘blueprint’ of the Solomon’s House, the model institution of the New Atlantis. But Bacon also reflects on the meaning and types of brotherhoods and their very different functions. However, to date, these reflections were never seriously investigated. It is what I propose to do in this paper. My general claim is that many of the unanswered questions and mysteries of the New Atlantis are clarified if we place Bacon’s reflections on ‘fraternities’ in a larger context. More specifically, I look at three contexts. First, I investigate the context of Bacon’s fables, emblems and literary devices, to show that he explicitly theorized ways in which one can use such devices to formulate a ‘call for action.’ Second, I place Bacon’s reflections on fraternities in the context of the Rosicrucian manifestos and their reception. Third, I look at the ways in which Bacon’s followers put the two previous contexts together. I claim that this interpretation of the ‘fable’ of New Atlantis gave the ‘emblem’ of Solomon’s House a lasting posterity. “
About Professor Dana Jalobeanu
Prof. Dana Jalobeanu is a philosopher of early modern science and philosophy, currently teaching at the University of Bucharest. Trained initially in theoretical physics before shifting to philosophy, she earned her PhD at Bucharest and held fellowships at institutions such as Oxford, Princeton, the Warburg Institute, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Her research explores the emergence of experimental philosophy, Baconian science, and the interplay between philosophy and the sciences in the early modern period. She has played a pivotal role in building research institutions, co-founding the Princeton-Bucharest Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy and the Journal of Early Modern Studies. Additionally, she is a leading editor and translator of Francis Bacon’s works and has co-edited major volumes on the philosophy of the Scientific Revolution.
About Prof. Dr. Cornelis J. Schilt
Cornelis J. Schilt is a research professor in History and Philosophy of Knowledge at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, specialising in Renaissance, early modern knowledge formation in general and the life and writings of Isaac Newton in particular. In 2022, he received a prestigious ERC start-up grant. With it, he started the project VERITRACE in which he investigates the influence of ancient wisdom writings on the development of early modern natural philosophy.
