23rd Days of Frane Petrić, “Man-Made World” Symposium

23rd Days of Frane Petrić, “Man-Made World” Symposium

Cres, Croatia 21-24 September, 2014

Julianna Borbély’s Conference Presentation

Held by the Croatian Philosophical Society, the event has been held for 23 years on the beautiful island of Cres, the birthplace of the Renaissance scholar Frane Petrić, and has become one of the leading events gathering philosophers and scientists of the widest range of backgrounds. The main topic discussed at this symposium was the relationship between man and the world. Questions such as “does the world exist before and outside of man, and is man no more than ‘a product’ of the world, or is it man himself who brings the world as such into being?” were discussed during sessions held in Croatian, English, and German.

In my paper entitled “Taming of the World: Art and Science in American Television Series” I dealt with representations of the fight between good and evil - in Hannibal (2012-) and in House, MD (2004-2012) – which is taken to a new level in television: good guy befriends bad guy in order to defeat him (Hannibal), and man defeats all mysterious illnesses with the help of computer technology (House, MD).

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