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SUMMARY:Earthquakes\, the end of the world\, and perspectives on the Last 
 Judgment (1686–1756) - László Kontler (Central European University\, B
 udapest)
DTSTART:20180514T120000Z
DTEND:20180514T130000Z
UID:TALK104881@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Sebestian Kroupa
DESCRIPTION:This paper – inspired by the prompt in Bernard de Fontenelle
 's _Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes_ (1686) that 'suns' may and do
  become extinguished\, and 'worlds' come to an end as a result of ordinary
  processes of transformation in the universe – investigates an aspect of
  the imbrication of the 'new science' and religious thought in the late se
 venteenth and the early eighteenth centuries. Firstly\, it explores report
 s\, accounts\, interpretations of earthquakes (deliberately not the much d
 iscussed contributions of Enlightenment classics\, but sources from learne
 d journals\, independent essays\, treatises\, sermons etc.) between those 
 of Jamaica (1692) and Lisbon (1755) to assess the extent to which such cal
 amities invited reflection on their natural causes in combination with a c
 onsideration of the possibility that they may prefigure an 'end of the wor
 ld'. Such reflections were not unusual. Secondly\, the paper also attempts
  to establish whether the possibility of such an end of 'this world' also 
 evoked\, in this period\, thinking that pointed towards Enlightenment as '
 the pursuit of happiness _in this world_\, regardless of what may or may n
 ot come in the next one'. In this regard the result is rather negative: in
  so far as authors were concerned with larger meanings as to the kind of l
 ives human beings are supposed to lead\, preoccupation with 'the other wor
 ld' remained highly resilient.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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