The Mandel Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center is now calling for applications for a three-year doctoral fellowship in "Passivities: Modes of Feeling, Modes of Knowing." The fellows will be part of a research group devoted to this theme that will operate from October 2023 until September 2026 at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

This research group describes its purpose as follows:

The opposition of passion and action pervades Western epistemological self-understanding. It is arranged in metaphors that contrast the mind as a mirror, passively reflecting external reality, to the mind as a searching lamp, projecting its own light on its surroundings. It is embedded in the philosophical polemic between a materialist notion of human existence, as a passive reaction to external stimuli, and the idealist celebration of the human creative capabilities in fashioning their own environment. The dichotomy thus constitutes the dynamic interface between human mental processes and the external world providing the foundational framework for any cognitive act. Critically assessing this interface and the subtle moments of passivities it involves, our interdisciplinary project suggests tackling it from two angles, one historical, focusing on early modern Europe as a transitional phase; and the other, critical and philosophical, examining the notion of passivity from a phenomenological point of view.

 

The group is led by:

Prof. Ruben Borg, English Department

Prof. Raz Chen-Morris, Department of History

Dr. Lola Kantor-Kazovsky, Department of Art History

Prof. Gur Zak, Department of General and Comparative Literature

 

See Mandel Scholion’s website for additional information about the group, its aims and members, as well as about the Center itself.

We welcome candidates with excellent research qualifications and an interest in the topic from a wide range of fields in the Humanities and Social Studies. The Mandel Scholion Research Center is a center for excellence in interdisciplinary studies. It seeks to foster a wide range of critical approaches and welcomes candidates whose research represents the broad reach of human endeavor. Four candidates will be chosen to take part in the group’s work.

 

Terms and Conditions:

• The recipients of the scholarship must register by October 2023 as doctoral students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• The recipients of the scholarships will enjoy excellent working conditions for the three years of the scholarship at the Mandel Scholion Center at the University's Mount Scopus campus. This includes office space close to the project leaders and a yearly grant of 75,000 NIS and tuition subject to the rules and regulations of the Hebrew University bylaws for doctoral fellowships.
• The recipients will be expected to devote these three years to writing their doctoral dissertations and to contribute to the group's research products. They are expected to be present at the Mandel Scholion Center four days a week and to participate in the activities of the group and of the Center, which is an interdisciplinary research center devoted to the promotion of excellence in a wide spectrum of disciplines.
•  The recipients of the scholarship are not permitted to engage in additional work during this period, other than teaching or a research assistantship at the Hebrew University.