The forum is organized within the framework of the Berlin Mathematics Research Center MATH+ in collaboration with the EXC 2020 “Temporal Communities” and supported by the Einstein Foundation Berlin.

Organizers

• Lindsey Drury (Freie Universität Berlin / EXC 2020)
• Maximilian Engel (Freie Universität Berlin)
• Simon Godart (Freie Universität Berlin / EXC 2020)
• Andrew James Johnston (Freie Universität Berlin / EXC 2020) 
• Nicolas Perkowski (Freie Universität Berlin) 
• Sebastian Pokutta (Technische Universität Berlin / Zuse Institute Berlin) 
• Christof Schütte (Freie Universität Berlin / Zuse Institute Berlin)
• Marcus Weber (Zuse Institute Berlin) 
• Sarah Wolf (Freie Universität Berlin / Green Climate Fund)

Scope of the Forum

The collaborative Thematic Einstein Forum Scales of Temporality: Modeling Time and Predictability in the Literary and the Mathematical Sciences is organized by the clusters of excellence MATH+ and Temporal Communities. It aims to explore shared interests, common grounds and similar problems both the mathematical sciences and the Humanities, particularly the philologies and the literary studies, entail.  

To enable this interdisciplinary approach, we want to address, compare and contrast mathematical and literary modes of time. How, for instance, do stories narrate succession, causation and the probable, and how do different modes of temporality inform dynamical systems and probability theory and their applicability? In addition, we will explore the possibilities of collaborations within the Digital Humanities, i.e. the systematic use of computational and algorithmic methods and resources in the humanities. 

The TEF will consist of several events as well as ongoing teaching and lecture formats over the course of the semester. 

Opening Day (October 26, 2022)

The Thematic Einstein Forum’s central topics will be introduced from the perspectives of both clusters. To initiate the exchange, participants from both clusters will reflect on their respective research projects’ relationship to matters of time, probability and contingency in an open forum. Further information can be found here.

Opening Workshop I (October 27, 2022)

The workshop on “Chaos and Contingency. The Role of Probability in Dynamical Models” wants to kick-off an investigation into open temporalities and possibilities and their role in literature, philosophy of science and mathematical modelling. It will address fundamental questions around the relations of contingency, chaos and probability. Further information can be found here.

Spring School (March 2023) 

A one week spring school on “Logic, Limits, Contingency: A Critical Digital Spring School” will bring together students and younger researchers from both fields to enhance a discussion on modes of temporality in the data-driven / digital humanities. In seminars and working groups, participants will be presented with case studies from literary history and in sociology of literature. At the same time, the school aims at providing introductory courses to statistical methods and basic programming. The call for participation can be found here.

Closing workshop: “Zeitenwende(n)” – Tipping Points of our Times? (March 31, 2023)

The closing workshop shifts the Thematic Einstein Forum’s focus from the abstract and theoretical discussion to the pressing matters of our time and asks what the mathematical sciences and literary studies can contribute to the historical and political notion of “Zeitenwende(n)”.

Further information can be found here.

Lecture series

In the lecture series “Models of Time and Probability”, experts from mathematics (dynamical systems, analysis, probability theory, applications and modelling, biomathematics) and from literary studies (narratology, rhetoric, literary history and philosophy) will give lectures to an open audience. Further information can be found here.

Seminar

Mathematics, Metaphysics, Methods: Geometry and Algebra in the discourse of Early Modern Philosophy 

This MA-course for students of philosophy will investigate the constitutive role of mathematics as a principle for early modern philosophy in writers such as Leibniz, Spinoza, Descartes or Du Châtelet. How has the comparison to mathematical procedures – both in algebra and in geometrics – shaped the modern understanding of philosophy as a rigorous science, and against what background has this introduction of “method” been possible?