The End of 'Fortuna'? The Beginning of Modernity? Contingency and Certainty in Early Modern History

This conference aims at investigating the question whether there does exist a historical link between the last and manifold blossoming of a discourse on “Fortuna” between the late 16th and the early 17th century, the final demise of such a discourse roughly after mid-17th century, and the rise of modernity. Our hope as the organizers is that the attempt to answer this question will shed some new light on the question of the beginning and of the multiple forms of modernity.
Debates about “Fortuna” and the final demise of these debates help to understand modernity as a loose “catchword” for highly different early modern forms of thought and practice, their various ways to cope with the issue of contingency and their ambition to reach theoretical certainty and practical stability.

Dosso Dossi: Allegory of fortune; around 1530, Italy
Digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program

• place: Lyrik Kabinett, Amalienstr. 83, 80799 München
• time: 20.03.2015-21.03.2015
• contact: Peter Vogt (Vogt.Pet@t-online.de), Arndt Brendecke (brendecke@lmu.de)
• program: pdf