The Virtues of Animals in Seventeenth-Century Thought

The Role of Language in Accusations of Witchcraft in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Spain

Linguistic factors played a significant role in the origin and spread of accusations of witchcraft in Early Modern Spain. The preoccupation with witches’ words is at its root a preoccupation about the power of speech and, to a great extent, of female speech. Studies in some Early European countries have connected aggressive female speech styles with accusations of witchcraft, and this article o...

Curiosity, forbidden knowledge, and the reformation of natural philosophy in early modern England.

From the patristic period to the beginning of the seventeenth century curiosity was regarded as an intellectual vice. Curious individuals were considered to be proud and "puffed up," and the objects of their investigations were deemed illicit, dispute engendering, unknowable, or useless. Seventeenth-century projects for the advancement of learning had to distance themselves from curiosity and i...

Seventeenth-century Theories of Emotion and Their Contemporary Relevance

a renewed interest in the theory of emotions both in philosophy and psychology. Work in this area has relied heavily on certain seventeenth-century philosophical theories of emotion (at the time variously termed theories of “passion”, “affect”, or even “action”). I shall start this paper by giving a very brief overview of the place of emotion theory in seventeenth-century art and thought. This ...

Animal Souls, Metempsychosis, and Theodicy in Seventeenth- Century English Thought

Pirates, Highwaymen, and the Origins of the Criminal in Seventeenth-Century English Thought