Events

Past Event

Columbia University Seminar in the Renaissance: Luka Boršić of the Institute of Philosophy, Zagreb

November 9, 2021
4:00 PM - 6:15 PM
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Zoom

"Maruša Gundulić (Maria Gondola) – a Renaissance female ‘Socrates.’" 

Abstract: The earliest known Croatian woman philosopher whose philosophical works have been preserved was Maruša Gundulić (in Italian: Maria Gondola), born around 1557 in Dubrovnik. She is mostly known as the author of a dedicatory letter from 1584 in which she argues that women are more virtuous, more intelligent and, generally, better human beings than men. But this short text is not everything we have from her. Her husband, Nikola Gučetić (in Italian: Nicolò Gozze) composed two dialogues, both published in 1581: Dialogo della bellezza and Dialogo d’amore. The traditional interpretation of these dialogues states that Gučetić, for some not quite clear reason, used the personae of his wife (Maruša) and her friend  (Cvijeta Zuzorić, in Italian: Fiore Zuzori/Zuzzeri) to exhibit his eclectic ideas on love and beauty. However, this traditional paradigm is not only ideologically suspect, but it also neglects some important traces and contexts which shed a different light on the dialogues. With the correction of the perspective, I will argue that the dialogues for the most part represent philosophical thoughts and arguments of the interlocutors, that is, Maruša Gundulić and Cvijeta Zuzorić. Read through this lens, the role of Maruša Gučetić in the dialogues can be understood as that of a “female Socrates”.

Details

If you would like to attend the meeting, we kindly ask that you fill out the RSVP form linked to below by Friday, November 5thrather than responding to us by email, so that we can tally the list of attendees. Those who respond will then receive an email Zoom invitation shortly before the day of the meeting that will include a link and password to let you access the meeting.

Click here to RSVP

You do not need to own the software Zoom since you will be invited through the link. (We recommend opening the link 5-10 minutes before 4:00 PM that afternoon.) You must turn on your computer's speaker system when joining. You will then discover two buttons to the lower left of the bottom Zoom task bar that allow you to join aurally and visually.

As has become our new custom, we will stipulate an ending time of 6:15 PM, which will allow for a few minutes of informal conversation over a virtual toast of wine (BYOW).  Everything will be aural and visual, including the PowerPoint slides.  You can participate with or without your own camera on (or with it covered with tape, if you prefer). During the talk, we will ask everyone to "mute" their microphone (if you have not taken part before, how to do this will be made clear once we're all in the Zoom meeting).

Again, please be sure to respond at this link by Friday, November 5th if you plan to attend. If you require additional assistance, feel free to reach out to Mackenzie Fox at [email protected].