The purpose of EMPHASIS is to provide a London forum for scholars working in the history of philosophy, intellectual history and the history of science of Europe in the period 1400-1650. The term 'philosophy' is interpreted in its fullest Renaissance sense and includes such themes as: Neoplatonism, scholasticism and late Aristotelian philosophy, Epicureanism, stoicism, scepticism, cosmological theories, the classification of the disciplines, encyclopaedism, Lullism, the art of memory, the philosophy of mathematics, theories of the soul, theories of language and signs, and so forth.

The seminar also addresses Renaissance or Early Modern 'science' (or natural philosophy), focussing on questions relating to epistemology, conceptual innovation, social and cultural contexts and the relations between 'science' and religion. The seminar encompasses all the 'scientific' disciplines of the period, including astronomy, medicine, natural history, cosmography and applied mathematics (optics, mechanics, nautical and military engineering, etc). We also include intellectually and historically rigorous approaches to the 'occult sciences' (or 'occult philosophy') - that is to say: alchemy, iatrochemistry, astrology, divination, Christian cabala, numerology and the magical arts. The seminar particularly encourages work which interrogates the continuities between mediaeval and Renaissance science (or natural philosophy), the relationship between the 'sciences' and the so-called 'pseudo-sciences', and problems relating to the historiography of the Scientific Revolution.

EMPHASIS meets monthly on Saturdays 2pm - 4pm during the academic term, at the Institute for English Studies, Senate House. Refreshments are provided.