CURRENTS: Molly Jones-Lewis (ANCS) and Michael Nance (PHIL)
Humanities Work Now
Monday, October 31, 2022 · 12 - 1 PM
The Dresher Center’s CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now lunchtime series showcases exciting new faculty work in the humanities in a dynamic and inter-disciplinary setting.
Lunch will be served at 11:30am.
When Freedom Isn't Free: Patron's Rights in Roman Slaving Law
Molly Jones-Lewis, Lecturer, Ancient Studies; Dresher Center Summer Fellow (Summer 2022)
While the language of slavery and slaving has undergone substantial and much needed revision in the past few decades, the language used to describe freed professionals lags behind, especially in the context of Roman slavery. Using a case from the Digest of Roman Law, we will discuss an instance of contested patron rights and the implications for the way we speak about enslavers after manumission in ancient Rome.
Molly Jones-Lewis, Lecturer, Ancient Studies; Dresher Center Summer Fellow (Summer 2022)
While the language of slavery and slaving has undergone substantial and much needed revision in the past few decades, the language used to describe freed professionals lags behind, especially in the context of Roman slavery. Using a case from the Digest of Roman Law, we will discuss an instance of contested patron rights and the implications for the way we speak about enslavers after manumission in ancient Rome.
AND
Fichte on the Politics of Money
Michael Nance, Associate Professor, Philosophy; Dresher Center Summer Fellow (Summer 2022)
The early 19th century philosopher J.G. Fichte’s proposal for the transition to what he calls the “closed commercial state” gives a leading theoretical and practical role to the politics of money. Fichte claims that the realization by modern states that money is purely a matter of state fiat marks a crucial turning point in the political and economic history of Europe, which allows the modern state to decouple itself from international monetary norms and practices, and thereby from the entire international system of political economy. Michael Nance suggests that this marks a moment in the broader historical project Fichte envisions: human beings become conscious of their power to transform relations of natural dependence into relations of self-determination
The early 19th century philosopher J.G. Fichte’s proposal for the transition to what he calls the “closed commercial state” gives a leading theoretical and practical role to the politics of money. Fichte claims that the realization by modern states that money is purely a matter of state fiat marks a crucial turning point in the political and economic history of Europe, which allows the modern state to decouple itself from international monetary norms and practices, and thereby from the entire international system of political economy. Michael Nance suggests that this marks a moment in the broader historical project Fichte envisions: human beings become conscious of their power to transform relations of natural dependence into relations of self-determination
~~~~~~