Consonances I: Mathematics, Language, and the Moral Sense of Nature Conference

    The ‘Consonances I: Mathematics, Language, and the Moral Sense of Nature’ conference will take place in Renehan Hall (No. 16 on Campus Map) at Maynooth University from 30 August (pm) until 1 September 2023.

    Drawing upon the Maynooth alumnus and Irish philosopher of science Ernan McMullin’s idea of consonance (1981*), this multi-disciplinary conference explores the interplay between mathematized logic, language, morality, and understandings of nature in premodern and modern eras from Western and Global perspectives. Acknowledging, though independent from, McMullin’s theological imperative, Consonances has presentations from historians of mathematics, science, philosophy, and theology which ‘retain the autonomy of each discipline [...] in ways which do not fall into conflict’ (**Hess & Allen, 2008, pp. 134-137). *McMullin, Ernan, ‘How Should Cosmology Relate to Theology?’, in Arthur Peacocke, ed., The Sciences and Theology in the Twentieth Century (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981), pp. 17-57. ​**Hess, Peter M.J., and Paul L. Allen, Catholicism and Science, Wesport, CT: Greenwood Press 2008.

    In addition to a tour of the Russell Library, and an exhibition of McMullin’s Maynooth bequest, this two-and-a-half-day conference will have 18 multi-disciplinary presentations.

    For further details on the conference, including confirmed speakers, titles and abstracts, accommodation and travel options, please visit the links below.  

    This conference is supported locally at Maynooth through the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, the Department of Philosophy, the Arts and Humanities Institute and the Research Development Office. It is also sponsored by the British Society for the History of Mathematics, the Society for Renaissance Studies, and the International Commission on the History of Mathematics.  

    Participants may also be interested in attending the 6th Irish History of Mathematics (IHoM6) Conference. Please visit the conference website for further details on this conference, which runs at Maynooth University on the 30th of August before Consonances commences.

    Susan Gottlöber, Ciarán Mac an Bhaird, and Kevin Tracey  (Consonances Conference Organisers)
    Any queries in relation to the conference can be sent to consonancesconference@gmail.com.