2026 Symposium on Epistemic Commitments in Dialogue
exploring paths of knowing - from local traditions to global systems
3–5 June 2026, Berlin
exploring paths of knowing - from local traditions to global systems
3–5 June 2026, Berlin
This three-day symposium re-conceptualizes the rise of early modern science through the lens of epistemic commitments - the locally grounded beliefs, methods, and authorities that underwrote ways of knowing across colonial and post-colonial contexts. Moving beyond a simple center-to-periphery model, this symposium foregrounds the often over-looked epistemic commitments that emerged in local contexts, from Jesuit universities in the Latin Americas, to Franciscan colleges of local learning in Mexico, to shifting paradigms in East Asia.
By spanning four continents, the symposium will explore the localized epistemic commitments that deepen our understanding of the actors, spaces, and bodies of knowledge that jointly produced what we now call modern science. In doing so, we not only reshape our view of the past but also open new possibilities for how we today might communally determine the future trajectories of scientific inquiry.
To animate this new historiography of epistemic commitments, distinguished scholars from around the globe will converse in Berlin to present case studies, engage in comparative discussion, and forge a dialogic account of the rise of modern science.
Confirmed List of speakers:
Graduate Student Presenters:
Fine Arts component, to be announced
By spanning four continents, the symposium will explore the localized epistemic commitments that deepen our understanding of the actors, spaces, and bodies of knowledge that jointly produced what we now call modern science. In doing so, we not only reshape our view of the past but also open new possibilities for how we today might communally determine the future trajectories of scientific inquiry.
To animate this new historiography of epistemic commitments, distinguished scholars from around the globe will converse in Berlin to present case studies, engage in comparative discussion, and forge a dialogic account of the rise of modern science.
Confirmed List of speakers:
- Seema Alavi, Ashoka University (India)
- Flynn Allott, Oxford University (UK)
- Daniela Bleichmar, University of Southern California (USA)
- Harold Cook, Brown University (USA)
- Alette Fleischer, Independent Researcher (Netherlands)
- Margaret Garber, California State University Fullerton (USA)
- Roberto Hofmeister Pich, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)
- Katja Krause, Technical University Berlin and Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Germany)
- Luis Xavier López-Farjeat, Universidad Panamericana (Mexico)
- Jaime Marroquín, Western Oregon University (USA)
- Matsukata Fuyuko, University of Tokyo (Japan)
- Paula Oliveira e Silva, University of Porto (Portugal)
- Santiago Orrego, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Chile)
- Nicola Polloni, University of Messina (Italy)
- Jörg Alejandro Tellkamp, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (Mexico)
- Dror Weil, University of Cambridge (UK)
- Tracy Wietecha, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Germany)
Graduate Student Presenters:
- Javaria Abbassi, Oxford University (UK)
- Pretita Govil, Angelicum (Italy)
- Yuan Tao, Technical University Berlin (Germany)
Fine Arts component, to be announced
