Single Review on past events

We were happy to welcome three guests/speakers from Romania to our meeting: Diana Stanciu, University of Bucharest, Iulia Dumitrache (Research Visit Fellow / Dept. of History), “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi, and Sergiu Sava (Research Visit Fellow / Dept. of Philosophy), “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi.

At the beginning, Diana Stanciu informed about the "Romanian Young Academy (RYA) - Sustainability Challenges".

Iulia Dumitrache spoke about "Military mobility and provincial demography in Moesia Inferior: Troesmis".

Abstract:
Mobility and migration have lately become one of the most important issues that we are facing, and the causes, unfolding and implications are to be found at the core of various studies. The challenge posed by the modern and contemporary events raised the interest for similar phenomena in the past. In this context, the Roman Empire offers a revealing field of research.
The impact of the Roman army on the limes areas is another issue of the present historiographical debate. The Roman army stimulated drastic shifts in demography, settlement patterns, and the economics of the conquered areas. Demographic changes consisted of both emptying areas along the limes and population transfers. Moesia Inferior was a strongly militarized province on the Roman limes and has a fair share of individual attestations for military personnel or persons with a military background. At the same time, veteran communities are attested there.
Troesmis was the seat of the Legio V Macedonica, and the soldiers who populated the camp and the surroundings come from various parts of the Empire. The main goals of my research presented here are to systematize information on the cities, provinces or regions of origin of these soldiers and to identify the times and reasons for their recruitments. I shall take into discussion not only the active soldiers mentioned in the inscriptions, but also the veterans, because sometimes we can observe even in their case the time and the reasons for their recruitment, beside the fact that they are also involved in civilian life (and represent an example of colonization in the civilian milieu).

Literature:

• Bîrliba, L. 2015. Colonisation and Romanization in Moesia Inferior: Premises of a contrastive approach, Kaiserslautern.

• Bîrliba, L. 2018. Rure vivere in Moesia inferiore: la population dans le milieu rural d’une province péripherique de l’Empire romain, Wiesbaden.

• Kraft, K. 1951. Zur Rekrutierung der Alen und Kohorten an Rhein und Donau, Bern.

• Mann, J. C. 1983. Legionary Recruitment and Veteran Settlement during the Principate, London.

• Matei-Popescu, F. 2010. The Roman Army in Moesia Inferior, Bucharest.

• Pázsint, A.-I. 2019. Life after Honesta Missio: A Demographic ans Social Perspective on the Veterans from Moesia Inferior, in: L. Mihailescu-Bîrliba, W. Spickermann (eds.), Roman Army and Local Societies in the Limes Provinces of the Roman Empire, Rahden (Westf.), 1-33.

Sergiu Sava reported on "The Collective Intentionality and Its Subject".

Abstract:

I. In keeping with some day-to-day form of speaking, Sergiu Sava started this abstract as follows: If I have a fear, it is a fear of something; if I am angry, I am angry about something; if I have a desire, that desire is directed at something. The feature in virtue of which such, if not all, mental states are of, about, or directed at something is called intentionality.
II. In keeping with some old-fashioned academic etiquette, I should, however, use the plural form of the personal pronoun, and start as follows: ‘If we have a fear, it is a fear of something …’ Then, I should just try to be consistent with this way of speaking. But choosing in favour of the old-fashioned academic etiquette would introduce an unfortunate confusion. Why? At least, because it would not be clear anymore how the we, the subject of intentional states, is to be understood. Does it stand for individuals taken apart from each other or for individuals as a group? Without a clear answer to this question, it would be quite hard, if not impossible, to say something meaningful about what is called collective intentionality, that is, the intentionality featured by the mental states of individuals taken as a group.
III. However, even if I refrain from complying with the abovementioned etiquette and get rid of the unfortunate confusion, it still remains to be spelled out how the subject of collective intentionality is to be understood. How do individuals become the subject of a collective intentional state? This is pretty much the main question I will deal with in my talk. I intend to proceed in approximately three steps: (1) I will present the answer given by Hans Bernhard Schmid; (2) then, show that Schmid’s answer is far from being unproblematic; (3) and eventually, if I will have enough time and feel confident enough, provide an alternative answer.