CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Atelier doctoral
The ‘Intention’ in Western Theological-Legal Culture
École française de Rome
26 février-2 mars 2024
The École française de Rome, in collaboration with the LIER-Fonds 'Yan Thomas' of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, the Department of Law of the University of 'Roma Tre', the ARN CiSaMe project ('Circulation des savoirs médiévaux au XIIe siècle') and the ‘CIHAM | UMR 5648 | Histoire, Archéologie, Littératures des mondes chrétiens et musulmans médiévaux’, is organising a doctoral seminar in Rome from 26 February to 2 March 2024 on The ‘Intention’ in Western Theological-Legal Culture.
The advent of Christianity marked from the earliest centuries a profound appreciation of the inner human sphere and a new framing of the dialectic between interiority and exteriority. The fundamental contribution coming from Late Antique monastic culture, which by exalting the private dialogue between man and God pushed, on the one hand, towards the identification of the soul as the true ground of divine judgement, and on the other towards an exaltation of the body as the testing ground of spiritual values, encouraged an early relection on these themes by the main Church Fathers. The invisible sphere of intention - enlivened by the influence exerted by the neoplatonic perspective on patristic production - experienced an unprecedented valorisation since Late Antiquity, stimulating interest in new questions and challenging previous certainties. Were women and men to be judged for their thoughts or their actions? What margin of freedom could be recognised to subjective intention for the regulation of relationships on this Earth? How did the subjective will interact with the normative dimension? Did the law continue to represent an objective and immutable sphere or could it be modified as a consequence of the enhancement of the intentional sphere?
Reflection on these themes, which recurred incessantly in early medieval thought, experienced an extraordinary intensification in the 12th century. The exaltation of the inner dimension and the profound devaluation of the outer one, preached by Abelard in France in the field of theology, met and clashed with the birth of learned law, thanks to the rediscovery of the Justinian Corpus Iuris Civilis and the blossoming of Canon Law in Italy and in Europe. If on the one hand the power of the intentional dimension contaminated European legal thought, marking the definitive entry of the valorisation of intention into medieval and early modern law, the confrontation with classical culture, where the spiritual dimension was framed in radically different terms, kept alive a dialectic that continued to be unsolved in the centuries that followed. The Atelier aims to extend the medieval perspective to the most current challenges that the subject of intention poses to the Humanities and Social Sciences.
The course of the doctoral seminar will be as follow: a presentation by the organisers (Emanuele Conte, Sara Menzinger, Paolo Napoli) will open the proceedings on Monday 26/2/2024 morning, which will continue throughout Monday, Tuesday and Friday with the presentation of the doctoral students’ research (approx. 20 minutes for each presentation).
Presentations must be held in one of the three languages accepted by the Atelier: Italian, French and English. Wednesday 28/2/2024 will be entirely devoted to seminars by specialists, who will tackle the theme of intention at the intersection of theology and law, exploring three lines: private law (debate between the free will of the parties and moral values/legal clauses in the history of contracts and wills); criminal law (imputability of intentions, liability for acts performed but not intended, or for acts intended but not carried out); public law, (dialogue between the subjective intention of the legislator and the objective intention of the law, authentic interpretation).
The École française de Rome offers 12 grants for young researchers (PhD students and post-docs from the European Union and other countries) who have carried out or are still carrying out research on the themes and problems at the heart of the seminar. The scholarships cover the costs of the stay in Rome; participants will cover their travel expenses.
APPLICATION
Applicants must send in PDF format:
- a covering letter explaining the reasons for submitting an application;
- a brief curriculum vitae specifying language skills and any publications;
- a summary of the project (2 pages, ca. 6000 characters);
- a letter of support
SENDING THE APPLICATION FILE
Applications files must be submitted online by 20/12/2023 at 4.00p.m to the following address:
⚠ _ATTENTION: no application can be cancelled after submission.
⚠ _ATTENTION: to avoid any technical problems, be sure not to submit your application at the last moment.
The Scientific Committee reserves the right to welcome applicants not selected to benefit from one of the fellowships, who will therefore be self-funding. Applicants will be selected on the basis of their project and will be notified of the grant by January the 10th 2024. After notification, by February the 5th 2024, they shall provide:
- the text of their presentation (ca. 10 pages, in one of the following languages: Italian, French or English);
- an abstract of at least 3 pages in Italian, French, or English.
Selected applicants are expected to attend the sessions assiduously. Their presentation will be commented by an expert in the field before the general discussion. The presentations deemed of the highest quality may be submitted to the editors of the École’s review, Mélanges de l’École française de Rome.
Scientific Committee:
Emanuele Conte
Sara Menzinger
Paolo Napoli
Clément Lenoble
Vivien Prigent
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