The society for the history of human thought
A global community of scholars since 1994.
The International Society for Intellectual History (ISIH) organises regular international conferences, publishes the Intellectual History Review, supports Early Career Researchers and publishes news from across the field.
We embrace a wide variety of approaches, methods, and disciplinary perspectives and are truly international in our membership. Join today!
The Conference
Our major international conference, held at venues across the world on a regular basis, is at the heart of the Society’s activities. The next conference will be held at Aarhus University, 11-13 June 2025.
The Journal
Published quarterly, the IHR is a forum for the international intellectual history community. It publishes articles, literature surveys, and essay reviews of current work.
Prizes
The Society awards two awards each year to early career researchers for outstanding work (essay and first monograph) in the field of intellectual history.
What is intellectual history?
Intellectual history is the study of ideas and intellectual patterns over time.
It is a broad subject, addressing the history of philosophy, religion, science, scholarship, anthropology, technology, the book, psychology and the social sciences, and other relevant intellectual formations.
Why join the Society?
If you are working in the history of philosophy, theology, and scholarship; the history of science, medicine, and technology; the history of legal and political thought; the history of literature, the visual arts, and music…then ISIH is for you!
Latest news
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Charles Schmitt Prize 2026
We are pleased to announce that the ISIH is now accepting submissions for the 2026 Charles. The deadline to submit for this year’s competition is 15 November 2026. As the result of generous donations from an anonymous donor and our publisher (Taylor & Francis), the International Society for Intellectual History is offering, on an annual basis, a prize…
Call for Candidatures: ISIH Constance Blackwell Prize 2026
The International Society for Intellectual History invites submissions for the 2026 Constance Blackwell Prize. The ISIH Constance Blackwell Prize is awarded biennially to the best first monograph in intellectual history, broadly construed, published in the previous two years. The prize was established in memory of the Society’s founder, Constance Blackwell (1934–2018). The value of the…
CfA: Three Postdoctoral Positions in the HumanLaw ERC Project at the University of Turin
Applications are open until May 27 for 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝟯-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻 within my ERC Consolidator Grant project 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗟𝗮𝘄: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101229235 1. A position for a scholar with a background in 𝗡𝗲𝗼-𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲, who will work on the epistolary correspondence between Italian jurists and humanists from the late fourteenth to the early…
CfP: Forecasting the weather, between divination and science. Antiquity to the present
October 9, University of Oxford, UK Organized by Simon Dolet (Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry) and Michelle Pfeffer (Calleva Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oxford) Submission Deadline: 31 May 2026 It is often said that modern weather forecasting began on 1 August 1861, when Robert FitzRoy, founder and Director of the Meteorological Office, published the first…
From Twitter
I'm excited to announce that my book, Inventing Immortality, is now out with @OxUniPress in their Oxford-Warburg series.
It's about people who thought ancient pagans invented the soul, but more broadly its about how academic scholarship fares when let loose in the public sphere
Call for candidatures: 2026 ISIH Constance Blackwell Prize (£500), for the best first monograph in intellectual history published in 2024 or 2025. Self-nominations welcome. Deadline: 31 Aug 2026. https://is-ih.com/news/call-for-candidatures-isih-constance-blackwell-prize-2026/
Latest session of ISIH's Early Career History of Scholarship Workshop: Marcello Cattaneo on “Harmony and its discontents: Universal grammar, Hebraism, and confessional politics…” 4 pm GMT, June 18. Email Abigail Hayton at ahayton[here]http://nd.edu to join the talk!
Today is the day of the inaugural Gaukroger Lecture! Join us live for Prof. Sorana Corneanu’s lecture today, 15:00–16:30 (UTC). Streaming available online via Teams! Register here: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/043e30dd-d1e1-4be5-867c-9fd48604ae76@2e9f06b0-1669-4589-8789-10a06934dc61