Salons the archive imagines from real lives: who met, and what was argued.
A supper for the new philosophy
1620 · London, England — Bacon gathers Galileo and Kepler to test his argument that knowledge must be built from experiment rather than ancient authority.
1618 · Prague, Bohemia — Kepler celebrates the completion of his harmonies with Galileo and Bacon, and defends the music he hears in the planets.
1640 · Paris, France — Descartes tries his new method on Pascal and Galileo, and finds that doubt is harder to teach than he expected.
1655 · Paris, France — Pascal hosts Spinoza and Locke in Paris and puts the wager to two philosophers who will not take the bet.
1665 · Amsterdam, Netherlands — Spinoza grinds lenses and argues about substance with Leibniz and Newton, two mathematicians who will not stay for long.
1690 · London, England — Locke, newly returned from exile, explains the Essay and the Treatises to Newton and Leibniz at his own table.
1700 · Hanover, Germany — Leibniz hosts Newton and Locke in Hanover and makes the case for his monads and his best of all possible worlds.
1685 · Amsterdam, Netherlands — In exile, Locke argues for toleration with Leibniz and Newton, and finds the limits of his own principle.
1490 · Florence, Italy — Lorenzo gathers Machiavelli and Caterina Sforza in Florence to talk about patronage, the balance of power, and the price of holding a state together.
1513 · Florence, Italy — In his study outside Florence, Machiavelli reads his new book to Erasmus, More, and Copernicus and asks whether a prince can be good.
1516 · London, England — More shares the manuscript of Utopia with Erasmus, Machiavelli, and Copernicus and tests its argument against their objections.
1520 · Basel, Switzerland — Erasmus gathers More, Machiavelli, and Copernicus around a Basel press and argues that the printed word will outlast every prince.
1530 · Augsburg, Germany — Charles V meets Erasmus, More, and Copernicus during the Diet and confronts the division of Christendom he cannot heal.
1490 · Forlì, Italy — Caterina Sforza receives Lorenzo, Machiavelli, and Cesare Borgia at Forlì and lets them see how a woman holds a state.
1535 · Fontainebleau, France — Francis I shows Charles V, Erasmus, and Copernicus the château and gallery that make his court the equal of any in Italy.
1780 · Braintree, Massachusetts — Abigail Adams keeps a New England table while John, Jefferson, and Madison debate what the Revolution owes to women and to the states.
1788 · New York, New York — Hamilton gathers Madison, Adams, and Washington as the Federalist essays appear and New York's ratification hangs in the balance.
1776 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Paine gathers Franklin, Jefferson, and Henry in the year of Common Sense and argues for a republic without kings.
1781 · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Lafayette hosts Washington and Hamilton as the French alliance turns the war and the army prepares for Yorktown.
1788 · Richmond, Virginia — Henry argues the anti-federalist case against Jefferson and Madison, and warns that the new Constitution needs a bill of rights.