Eli P. Bernstein

Research Topic

The Art of Judgment: Thinking and Writing in Early Modern France

Supervisors: Professor Neil Kenny and Professor David Parrott

I am primarily interested in early modern history. My doctoral research examines how the pedagogical ideals of humanist education manuals informed the structure of thinking and writing in early modern Europe. In particular, I am exploring the concept of 'judgment' in Renaissance theories of language and how this shaped the thought of French writers such as Jean Bodin, Étienne Pasquier, and Michel de Montaigne, among others. My hope is to show that judgment was not just a term found on the verbal surface of language, but came to constitute a way of thinking within a temporal and spiritual form of life.

My secondary interest is in contemporary analytic philosophy. Here, I am thinking about problems related to the interpretation of literary texts and the idea of constructing past worlds.

I am a member of the founding committee for the Oxford Centre for Intellectual History. Please do get in touch with me if you would like to be involved with the CIH.

My research is generously supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Clarendon Fund, and Jesus College, Oxford.

Conferences and Invited Talks

May 2022 (Oxford) - The Mind is its Own Place? Early Modern Intellectual History in an Institutional Context; co-convenor.

Apr 2021 (Oxford) - The Futures of Intellectual History; co-convenor.

Mar 2021 (Cambridge) - Cambridge Political Thought and Intellectual History Graduate Conference; Judgement, Pedagogy, and Political Thought in the Essais of Michel de Montaigne (c.1571-1592).

Mar 2021 (Oxford) - Early Modern Britain Seminar; invited commentator on Jane Ohlmeyer's 'The James Ford Lectures 2021', Ireland, Empire, and the Early Modern World.

Feb 2021 (Oxford) - Oxford Political Thought Seminar; invited commentator on Annelian de Dijn's presentation Freedom: An Unruly History.

Oct 2018 (Bristol) - Quentin Skinner Symposium, Unviersity of Bristol; Scepticism and Political 'Thinking' in the Essais of Michel de Montaigne (reply by Quentin Skinner)

You can find me on Twitter here.