Research Topic
The interaction between soul and body in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772)
My doctoral research explores the interplay between Swedenborg's lifelong interest for soul-body interaction and his later daily conversations with the spirits of the dead. By doing so, it provides the first study of the overlooked links between the afterlife and the mind-body problem during the early modern period. My research more broadly includes science and religion within global early modern networks, the history of the body (food, psychiatry, sexuality, anatomy) and the religious Enlightenment, along with currents related to Swedenborg's posterity (millenarianism, mysticism, borealism, abolitionism).
Supervisor: Professor Robert Iliffe
Doctoral scholarships:
• Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC-DTP) | British Research Council
• Gilbert Ryle Scholar | Linacre College, University of Oxford
• Doctoral Scholar of the Swedenborg Society (First recipient) | The Swedenborg Society, UK
Education:
• MA, History and Philosophy of Science | École Normale Supérieure de Paris (First class honours)
• MA, Religious Studies | École Pratique des Hautes Études (First class honours)
• BA, Nordic Studies | Sorbonne
• BA, English Studies | Sorbonne Nouvelle
Peer-reviewed publications:
• 'Ghosts from other planets': plurality of worlds, afterlife and satire in Emanuel Swedenborg's De Telluribus in mundo nostro solari (1758) | Journal article | Annals of Science, 77, 2020:4, p.469-494 | Open Access | September 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00033790.2020.1817557
• 'Musis Borealibus': science boréale et discours sur le Nord, 1620-1720' | Journal article | Etudes Germaniques, 76, 2021:1, p.65-82 | Free preprint on request | July 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3917/eger.301.0065
Teaching:
• ‘Histories of madness and mental healing in a global context’ (further subject)
• ‘The Scientific movement in the 17th century’ (special subject)
• ‘History of physics' (supplementary subject)
• ‘History of science’ (supplementary subject)
Personal pages:
Reach me on social media on Twitter @RoyDiPiazza, Academia, Researchgate and Linkedin
I welcome inquiries to lecture, publish, mentor and teach.