La prochaine séance de PEMS organisée par Université Sorbonne Nouvelle et Sorbonne Université aura lieu le jeudi 22 janvier de 17h30 à 19h, en salle ODG 830, bâtiment Olympe de Gouges, place Paul Ricoeur, 75013.
Nous aurons le plaisir d’entendre Helena Taylor (Exeter) sur le sujet suivant “Practising Philosophy in the Seventeenth-Century French Salon”.
Nous aurons le plaisir d’entendre Helena Taylor (Exeter) sur le sujet suivant “Practising Philosophy in the Seventeenth-Century French Salon”.
Abstract: Practising Philosophy in the Seventeenth-Century French Salon
In this paper I will look at some examples of ‘salon writing’ — work that derived from and represents sociable intellectual contexts — to examine how they both explore and stage philosophy as a sociable practice. Looking at verse and prose by Antoinette Deshoulières (1638–94) and Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701), I will argue that properties of salon writing — such as exchange, conversation, multivocality, playfulness, humour — enable a certain set of poetics and will examine how such poetics underpin these authors’ approaches to philosophical enquiry and practice.
Helena Taylor is an Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter where she is currently PI on the ERC-awarded, UKRI-funded project, Cultures of Philosophy: Women Writing Knowledge in Early Modern Europe. Her research focuses on intersections of literature and philosophy, socio-historical approaches to literature and the history of ideas, noninstitutional communities and cultures of learning, and inclusive methodologies that interrogate the canon and disciplinary exclusion. Her recent book, Women Writing Antiquity: Gender and Learning in Early Modern France (OUP,2024), was awarded an honorable mention in the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender book prize.
In this paper I will look at some examples of ‘salon writing’ — work that derived from and represents sociable intellectual contexts — to examine how they both explore and stage philosophy as a sociable practice. Looking at verse and prose by Antoinette Deshoulières (1638–94) and Madeleine de Scudéry (1607–1701), I will argue that properties of salon writing — such as exchange, conversation, multivocality, playfulness, humour — enable a certain set of poetics and will examine how such poetics underpin these authors’ approaches to philosophical enquiry and practice.
Helena Taylor is an Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of Exeter where she is currently PI on the ERC-awarded, UKRI-funded project, Cultures of Philosophy: Women Writing Knowledge in Early Modern Europe. Her research focuses on intersections of literature and philosophy, socio-historical approaches to literature and the history of ideas, noninstitutional communities and cultures of learning, and inclusive methodologies that interrogate the canon and disciplinary exclusion. Her recent book, Women Writing Antiquity: Gender and Learning in Early Modern France (OUP,2024), was awarded an honorable mention in the Society for the Study of Early Modern Women and Gender book prize.
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Emma Bartel (11 février 2026). SEM 22/01/26 Helena Taylor (Exeter) – Practising Philosophy in the Seventeenth-Century French Salon. Paris Early Modern Seminar. Consulté le 11 mai 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/15nyo