“Cognitive Theory and Later Latin: Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period”
Conference Announcement
18th Trends in Classics International Conference on
“Cognitive Theory and Later Latin: Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period”
The Department of Classics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies of Innsbruck are organizing the 18th Trends in Classics International Conference to be held in Thessaloniki on 30-31 May 2024 at KEDEA, Aristotle University Campus (http://kedea.rc.auth.gr). The topic of the conference is:
“Cognitive Theory and Later Latin: Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period”
https://www.lit.auth.gr/18th_trends
(The growing scholarly dialogue between cognitive theories and the humanities has recently conquered the scholarly discourse of Classical Studies. The relevant critical discourse has focused on the ways in which the cognitive process explicitly or implicitly runs through mental and bodily processes, as well as through the world of Greek and Roman society, and in particular through culture, technology, science, medicine, philosophy, art, literature and theatre. The conference will raise these questions in the context of Latin texts from Late Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Neo-Latin literature. The discussion will cover a wide range of texts and topics, such as philosophical theories on the nature of the soul, but also issues such as the literary analysis of metaphors or sociological approaches to the production and dissemination of knowledge. The conference aims to make a substantial contribution to the interdisciplinary dialogue between late Latin literature and cognitive approaches).
Program
Thursday, 30 May, 2024
9:00–9:15
Welcome and general introduction
PANEL 1. Chair: Chrysanthe Tsitsiou-Chelidoni (Thessaloniki)
9:15-10:45
Paul Dilley (Iowa), Monastic Renunciation, Hagiography, and Mental Health
Stefan Tilg (Freiburg), How Do They Know? Knowledge of Invented Characters and Events in Early Modern Latin Prose Fiction
11:15-13:30
Maik Patzelt (Berlin), On Martyrs, Demons and Devils: A Cognitive Approach to Christian Horror Stories
Sean Leatherbury (Dublin), Living and Thinking with Things in Late Antiquity: Ennodius on Firmina’s Jewelry
Isabella Sandwell (Bristol), Embodied Doctrine: The Cognitive Benefits of Using Material Images of Natural Reproduction to Represent Relations Between the Divine Father and Son
PANEL 2. Chair: Evina Sistakou (Thessaloniki)
14:30-16:45
Roy Gibson (Durham), Late Antique Letter Collections as Extended Cognition?
Anders K. Petersen (Aarhus), Changing the Mind of the Unlearned and the Ill Taught: Cognitive Perspectives on Augustine’s Teaching in De cathecizandis rudibus and De utilitate credenda
Katharine Earnshaw (Exeter), St Augustine and Bede: A Crossover Between Environmental and Cognitive Approaches
17:15-18:45
Istvan Czachesz (Tromsø), A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to Apocalyptic Literature: The Visio Pauli as a Test Case
Niklaus Largier (Berkeley), The Symbolic Potential of Form: Shaping Cognition in Prayer
Keynote Lecture
18:45-19:45
Miranda Anderson (Edinburgh), A History of Distributed Cognition: Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period
Friday, 31 May, 2024
PANEL 3. Chair: Panagiota Sarischouli (Thessaloniki)
9:00-10:30
Anna Novokhatko (Thessaloniki), Embodied and Situated Cognition in Augustine’s Discussions on Metaphor
- William Short (Exeter), Alanus de Insulis’ Omnis mundi creatura from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics
11:00-13:15
Frank Bezner (Freiburg), Cognition and Perception in 12th Century Latin Lyrics
Racha Kirakosian (Freiburg), Meister Eckhart’s Theory of Mind: Towards Neuromedievalism
Jesper Sørensen (Aarhus), Malleus Maleficarum: Magic and Witchcraft Between Community and State
PANEL 4. Chair: Florian Schaffenrath (Innsbruck)
14:30-16:00
Niall Slater (Atlanta), Supplementary Similes and Metamorphic (Dis-)Embodiment: Vegio’s Revisions of Vergil
George Kazantzidis (Patras), Mental Illness, Cognitive Errors and Cognitive Therapy in Caelius Aurelianus’ De morbis chronicis
16:30-18:30
Yasmin Haskell (Melbourne), Programming Piety: The Cognitive-Affective Codes of Jesuit Poetic Pedagogy
Martin Korenjak (Innsbruck), Virtual Space Travel in Early Modern Times
Concluding Remarks
The organizers,
Anna Novokhatko (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
Florian Schaffenrath (Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Neulateinische Studien)
Stefan Tilg (University of Freiburg)
Antonios Rengakos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & Academy of Athens)
Stavros Frangoulidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
The organizers gratefully acknowledge the support of the following sponsors: Social and Cultural Affairs Welfare Foundation (KIKPE); Aristotle University Research Committee; Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Neo-Latin Studies; Stiftung Humanismus Heute Baden-Württemberg; University Studio Press