Andy Serin

Please tell us about your research project.
I'm a PhD student in philosophy and intellectual history at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and University Paris 1. Pantheon-Sorbonne, under the supervision of Professors Christophe Grellard and Philippe Büttgen. More precisely, I'm working on early modern toleration, especially on a French protestant philosopher, Pierre Bayle, who argued that heretics have a right to error in religious matters: the "rights of the erroneous conscience in good faith". In fact, it's an argument which comes from medieval and modern scholaticism (conscientia erronea and ignorantia invincibilis). I study how this argument has evolved over time and why it was so controversial among Protestants themselves in the 17th century.

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?
I'm here for Michaelmas term, thanks to an exchange programme for PhD students between EPHE and MFO. As a matter of fact, I need to consult manuscripts of Reformed scholasticism and Puritan casuistry at the Weston library. I will also take the opportunity to attend seminars, such as the one given by Professor Kantik Ghosh on John Wycliff at Trinity College.

First impressions of Oxford/the University?
It's a pleasant town with squirrels in the streets. I do everything on foot. It's very convenient that the MFO is close to the libraries.