[SydPhil] History or Genealogy? Approaches to the History of Ideas Masterclass with Peter Harrison August 20

[Catherine Wesselinoff]

The Notre Dame Centre for the History of Philosophy warmly invites you to:
History or Genealogy? Approaches to the History of Ideas Masterclass with Peter Harrison
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Teacher: Professor Peter Harrison, Professorial Research Fellow in Science and Religion, University of Notre Dame Australia
When: Thursday, August 20, 2026
Time: 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM (AEST Sydney)
Where: NDS23/102 – 46-52 Mountain Street Ultimo, NSW, 2007 (Wilcox Mofflin Building) or online via Teams
Cost: Attendance is free; registration essential.
Register here: https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/NSE_CL7EwMfmr03xDsBfMfyU8-c?domain=events.nd.edu.au
About the workshop
This workshop has two related elements. First, we will discuss different ways of approaching the history of ideas and, more specifically, the history of philosophical and religious ideas. One focus of this discussion will be the role played by normative considerations—moral and religious commitments, or advocacies of social justice—in the way we conduct our historical investigations.

A second element will be an account of Harrison’s own approach to the history of ideas, which usually involves a significant component of conceptual history. We will look at specific examples of the history of concepts such as ‘religion’, ‘science’, and ‘belief’, and consider what that history might imply for our present deployment of those notions.

These examples also take us back to the question of how to manage normative issues in the conduct of history.

Core Readings:

  *   Peter Harrison, The Territories of Science and Religion, Chicago University Press, 2015, ch. 1
  *   Peter Harrison, Some New World: Myths of Supernatural Belief in a Secular Age, Cambridge University Press, 2024, ch. 2.
  *   Peter Harrison, ‘Normativity and the Critical Functions of Genealogy’<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/Mg2cCMwGxOtR1pJKyhkhKf8Esea?domain=onlinelibrary.wiley.com>, Modern Theology, 39 (2023), 682-707.

Supplementary Readings:

  *   Jonathan Catlin, ‘The Berkeley School: Critical Theory, Political Economy, and the Future of Intellectual History’<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/IlQ9CNLJyQUE8Y6KqTjiDfyzhTR?domain=jhiblog.org> JHI blog, Feb. 2026.
  *   Peter Gordon, ‘What is Intellectual History?<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/-oy8COMKzVT0jDOVLTrszfGqb3Q?domain=harvardcolloquium.hsites.harvard.edu>’
  *   Peter Harrison, ‘Critical Theories and the Question of Values’<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/BGwMCP7LAXfoRB6Y1T6t2fxbMWn?domain=zygonjournal.org>, Zygon 60 (2026), 1299–308

Directions to the event
NDS23/102 – 46-52 Mountain Street Ultimo, NSW, 2007 (Wilcox Mofflin Building)

Dr Catherine Wesselinoff
Lecturer | School of Philosophy and Theology
Lead, Strategic Programs and Partnerships | Institute for Ethics and Society (IES)
The University of Notre Dame Australia.
Book a meeting with me<https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/VQK2CQnMBZf3pnRG1TAumfGz2be?domain=outlook.office.com> <https://url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/VQK2CQnMBZf3pnRG1TAumfGz2be?domain=outlook.office.com>

Recent Publications:
"Beauty's Comeback", Debates in Aesthetics, Vol 19. No. 2, 2025, pp 35-45.
"Apophatic Beauty in the Hippias Major and the Symposium", The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 82, Issue 1, 2024, pp 36-44.
The Revival of Beauty: Aesthetics, Experience, and Philosophy, Routledge, 2023.

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