New Release: Time and History in Denis Pétau
- Einstein Center Chronoi
- 9 hours ago
- 1 min read
A new volume in our De Gruyter book series has been published and is now available in open access. Time and History in Denis Pétau: Philosophy, Science, and Religion in Early Modern France by our former fellow, Johannes Zachhuber, offers the first comprehensive presentation and analysis of the innovative theory of time advanced by the early modern French Jesuit scholar Denis Pétau (1583–1652). Engaging closely with the work of Joseph Scaliger and with the burgeoning literature on scientific chronology in the early seventeenth century, Pétau articulated a far-reaching account of time and history. According to Pétau, societies inevitably exist within a temporal frame and therefore develop communal practices of timekeeping, such as calendars, and arrange their historical records in chronological form. Since time is, for Pétau, ultimately a sacred reality, its study has traditionally fallen to priests, and science and religion appear as closely connected. The book will be of interest to philosophers of time as well as to historians of early modern science, religion, and theology.
