Anca Meiroşu (Research Institute of the University of Bucharest): Voluntas and potentia in Petrarch's Secretum
The autobiographical treatise Secretum by Petrarch is, beyond its bitter meditation on the human condition, a fascinating manifesto for life and for its greatest gift, the present moment. Engaged in mundane concerns, man often loses track of time and of his passage through life. Is the will enough to change one’s life or just to change the perspective on it? What is the value of human power and action in the absence of a collaborative relationship with the divine? By indirectly answering these questions and many others in a three-day dialogue with Augustine, Petrarch pleads for an original reevaluation of Stoic and Neoplatonic philosophy.
Hosted by UCD Newman Centre for the Study of Religions & UCD School of
Philosophy
Time: 4.30pm, Thursday 02 February 2023
Place: D520 Newman Building (School of Philosophy Seminar Room)
For a Zoom link please email Helena McCann at Helena.mccann@ucd.ie.
