The Enlightenment Workshop is Oxford’s leading seminar in 18th-century intellectual history and literary culture. Convened by the Voltaire Foundation by Nicholas Cronk (St Edmund Hall) and Avi Lifschitz (Magdalen College), it usually takes place on Wednesdays throughout the academic year.
The seminars in 2025-26 are convened by Nicholas Cronk (St Edmund Hall) and Jacob Chatterjee (New College) and are taking place in-person in New College, Lecture Room 6, unless otherwise specified (please refer to the programme for the respective venue).
Enlightenment Workshop 2025-26
We are delighted to present our programme for the academic year 2025-26. You can find a pdf version of the programme by following this link.
An interdisciplinary research seminar supported by the Faculty of History, the Faculty of Modern Languages, and the Voltaire Foundation
Wednesdays at 5:00pm unless stated otherwise
Michaelmas Term
22 Oct. Tim Stuart-Buttle (University of York)
Hobbes before the Enlightenment
13 Nov. Antoine Lilti (Collège de France)
Besterman Lecture: The Three Languages of Universality: Thinking Globally in the Enlightenment
(Magdalen College, Grove Auditorium, 5.00 pm)
14 Nov. 9am – 1pm. Voltaire Foundation Research Showcase: Presentations by postdoctoral students from Voltaire Foundation and Turin Humanities Programme (Fondazione 1563). Discussion chaired by Antoine Lilti (Collège de France).
(Maison Française d’Oxford, Norham Road)
19 Nov. James Hanrahan (Trinity College, Dublin)
Representations of Origins in Enlightenment Thought: the Voltairean Exception
24 Nov. Dan Edelstein (Stanford University)
The Revolution to Come (2025): Book Presentation and Discussion
(joint session with the Oxford Political Thought seminar)
26 Nov. Lisa Kattenberg (University of Amsterdam)
Liberty and its Limits in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch-Spanish-Mapuche Triangle
27 Nov. Michelle Charters OBE (Head of International Slavery Museum, Liverpool)
International Slavery Museum: the Journey, Progress and Plans
(Linacre College, Tanner Room, 5.30 pm) followed by a drinks reception.
Voltaire Foundation Enlightenment Values Lecture
3 Dec. Jacob Donald Chatterjee (New College, Oxford)
Robert Sharrock and the Transformation of Christian Epicureanism in England and Western Europe, 1642–1732
End of term drinks.
Hilary Term
28 Jan. John Robertson (University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge)
Making the space to think about society – more than an Enlightenment story
11 Feb. At the Maison Française d’Oxford, Norham Road:
3.30pm: Stephen Leach and Stephen Hilyard (University of Wisconsin Madison)
“Remember a Poor Hermit”: A Reconstruction of ‘Rousseau’s Cave’ (including showing of short film about Rousseau’s Cave at Wootton Hall in Staffordshire).
Discussion led by Jenny Mander (Newnham College, Cambridge) with tea and coffee.
5.00pm: Roundtable on Rousseau’s Politics of Taste (2024) by Jared Holley.
Discussants: Jane Cooper (All Souls College, Oxford), Holly Rowe (Lincoln College, Oxford), and Olivier Higgins (New College, Oxford).
Response: Jared Holley (University of Edinburgh). Drinks will be served after the event.
18 Feb. Hangyul Kim (Chonnam National University) 11:00am:
Museums in Revolutionary France as Sites of Encouragement and Emulation
(annual online session with the Global Intellectual History Unit, Sungkyunkwan University)
25 Feb. Sarah Mortimer (Christ Church, Oxford)
‘The Kingdom of Liberty’: the Dutch Remonstrants on Christianity and Natural Law
11 Mar. Felix Waldmann (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge)
לְ†רבּי†: John Locke, Christ Church, and the Herbarium Exercises, 1660-1665
Trinity Term
1 May Ruth Ahnert (Queen Mary University of London)
Voltaire Foundation Annual Digital Enlightenment Studies Lecture: Title TBC
(Weston Library, 5.00 pm)
13 May Keith Michael Baker (Stanford University)
Book Talk: Jean-Paul Marat: Prophet of Terror (2025)
(Venue TBC)
20 May Jessica Patterson (Trinity College, Cambridge)
Empire and the Idea of the Constitution in Enlightenment Political Thought
(Venue TBC)
3 June Maksymilian Del Mar (Queen Mary University of London)
Dancing with the Stars: Adam Smith and Lucian on Philosophical, Moral, and Pantomime Spectatorship
(Venue TBC)