8 Nov
2023
8 Nov
'23
2:41 p.m.
NOVEMBER 16, 2023
START: 18:00
AUSTRIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
THEATERSAAL
SONNENFELSGASSE 19
1010 VIENNA
DEMETRA SFENDONI-MENTZOU
Interdisciplinary Centre of Aristotle Studies, Aristotle University
Thessaloniki
WELCOME
Ulrike Diebold | Vice-President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Claudia Isep | Deputy Secretary General of the Austrian Commission for
UNESCO
Introduction and Moderation of Q&A:
Herta Nagl-Docekal | Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of
Vienna
Aristotle’s philosophy of nature has been underestimated for centuries. His
Physics was considered by the protagonists of the “Scientific Revolution” as
a sterile system; the idea that there is no place for an Aristotelian
perspective
in science was, subsequently, reinforced by the development of Newtonian
mechanics. Against this traditional view, the lecture seeks to show that
Aristotle’s conception of nature is one of his most fruitful ideas, and
that the
insights gained from Aristotle’s work are becoming increasingly relevant to
contemporary science. Furthermore, the lecture argues that, in the light
of the
impressive discoveries in numerous fields of science, especially in
physics, a
closer look at Aristotle’s work will reveal that the Stageirite has
elaborated a
dynamic model of nature, which is much closer than Newtonian physics to the
new scientific image of nature emerging today. At the same time, Aristotle’s
insights into the inter-relation of all disciplines and the unity of
knowledge can
respond to the growing need for a re-unification of the various sciences
through
an interdisciplinary approach.
Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou is Professor Em. of Philosophy of Science, the
founding and current President of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Aristotle
Studies, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, Greece, and Fellow of the
Charles
S. Peirce Society. She served as President of the Greek Philosophical
Society
(2006–08) and the Charles Sanders Peirce Society (2014–15). Her research
focus
on the importance of Aristotle’s thought for the current sciences is
documented
in her studies on Quantum Mechanics, Microphysics and the Bio-Sciences.
She edited Aristotle and Contemporary Science (two volumes, 2000/2001) and
Aristotle–Contemporary Perspectives on his Thought (2018). Furthermore, she
demonstrated how the philosophy of American Pragmatism relates to
Aristotle’s
thinking. As President of the C. S. Peirce Society she chaired the
“Charles S.
Peirce International Centennial Congress,” Lowell, Massachusetts (2014).
Most
importantly, she initiated, organized and chaired the “World Congress
Aristotle
2400 Years” Thessaloniki 2016, under the auspices of the President of
the Hellenic
Republic, and edited the Proceedings of that Congress (2019). Currently,
Prof.
Sfendoni-Mentzou is establishing a joint Greek-Chinese research program that
was initiated at the international “Aristotle-Confucius Symposium on
Ethics for
the 21st Century” that she co-organized in July 2023.
The Leibniz Lectures, as part of the Academy Lectures of the Austrian
Academy
of Sciences, refer to the fact that Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz presented
the first plans
for a „Society of Sciences in Vienna“ to the Emperor during his time in
Vienna
in 1712–1714. Lectures are given by scholars who have gained international
recognition not only in their own field, and whose research demonstrates the
differentiation potential of philosophy both for interdisciplinary
understanding,
and for dealing with publicly relevant issues of the present.
Please register at: www.oeaw.ac.at/anmeldung/akademievorlesungen
CONTACT: Andrea Windegger, Austrian Academy of Scienes,
andrea.windegger(a)oeaw.ac.at