On 7th January 2016 at 17:15, Knud Haakonssen will give a lecture at the Forschungszentrum (Seminarraum) with the title: Eclecticism as Method, Style and Attitude. The Case of Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754)
Ludvig Holberg (1684–1754) was the greatest representative of the Danish-Norwegian Enlightenment and also a European figure of note – the consummate Enlightenment thinker, with significant works in natural law, history (national, dynastic, European, Universal), church history, history of the Jews, Plutarch immitations etc. He is the author of an important body of moral essays and epistles, as well as several engaging autobiographies and European travelogues, and – not least – works of fiction ranging from a utopian novel that was a European best-seller, sharp satires, and a large number of comedies. The comedies have secured Holberg the status as the most significant playwright in Scandinavia before Ibsen and Strindberg. The lecture argues that this multifarious oeuvre is united by an exceptional eclecticism that includes endless variations on the identity of the author and offers the opportunity to articulate more precisely the epistemic stance of the eclectic in its distinction from that of the sceptic or agnostic.
Knud Haakonssen is a Long-term Fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies, Erfurt, and Professor of Intellectual History, University of St. Andrews. He co-directs the project ‘Natural Law 1625-1850’.