Levent Yilmaz
Research project
Politikon. A History of Sociability
Project summary
The main issue of this research is to understand the formation of the European ideas about the sociability of man and the origin of human societies. The question of how in the past humans formed the phenomenon called society is accompanied by a parallel question about the nature of man, as they were posed by post-Renaissance political philosophers. From 1500 onwards, a fictional speculation (man’s primordial liberty as a source of terror and obstacle for the formation of society but also as the main source of the idea of social contract and the creation of the state) will form the basis of modern politics. This fiction is neither Biblical, nor Aristotelian: it comes most probably from the reading of Lucretius’ book V and Ulpian’s initial sentences of the Corpus iuris civilis in which he defines the natural law. Vico deals essentially with this problem, in order to criticize Hobbes and through these critics and the reinterpretation of the idea of “contract” and “rights” a new political culture will flourish in Europe.
Other residencies at IMéRA
SENIOR FELLOW 2019-2021 — Senior Fellow
Writing and epistemology in the humanities and social sciences, interdisciplinarity and comparatism on a global scale
Writing in the humanities and social sciences (SHS) has learned a great deal from the turning points of the last few decades: it has been incredibly enriched by these debates on its epistemology and reflexivity. So, at Iméra, we’ll be able to invent a “comparative and interdisciplinary research method” team that will take into account all the richness and misery of the SHS experience. This scientific project, which will last at least three years, will enable us to review the ontological and epistemological foundations of scientific writing (history, anthropology, sociology, law, economics, etc.) and to draw up a comprehensive body of work, in line with Iméra’s scientific aspirations.
Teams from all over the world will be able to work together with researchers from AMU and EHESS on “interdisciplinary and comparative research into problems, not doctrines: interdisciplinary questioning taking place, and constantly weaving, from the pile-up of questions already formulated, the conditions of possibility for new questioning”. Our object of study is, and always will be, to rethink the very writing of the humanities and social sciences.
