Cognitive Geometries: Using Diagrams in the Middle Ages
Mary J. Carruthers, Professor of Literature Emeritus, New York University
Cognitive Geometries explores the close relationships in medieval creative practice among geometric shapes, meditation, and the human ability to create original works. Focusing on materials crafted in the twelfth century, chiefly on the basis of Biblical texts, and then disseminated widely during the thirteenth century, each lecture investigates the fundamental cognitive insight of medieval diagram makers: that shape and pattern not only envision what we already know but also invite us to discover surprising logical relationships that can provoke our thinking in new ways.
Dates: Monday, March 20; Tuesday, March 21; and Thursday, March 23
Time: Lectures begin at 5:30 PM
Location: Class of 1978 Orrery Pavilion, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, sixth floor
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
University of Pennsylvani Libraries
3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia