RICERCA ITALIANA     

Philosophy and Science in the Middle Ages. Editions and studies.

Abstract

The aim of the program is to collect data and to publish edited manuscripts, commentaries, translations and critical studies, in order to widen our knowledge of the medieval philosophical paradigms. The research units will analyze various stages of the development of medieval philosophy (Trivium Artes between the 7th and 12th century, philosophy of nature and hermeticism, wisdom and mystics in the German cultural area, the scholastisc tradition in the medieval Universities). Most of the texts object of research are yet unpublished, and therefore editions of them are planned. We refer here especially to the following texts:
1) «Grammatica», «Logica» and «Rhetorica antiquioris mediae aetatis» for the Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis, Brepols (anonymous texts on grammar, dialectic and rhetoric in the IX-XI centuries)
2) Hermes latinus, Textus magici (Corpus Christianorum, CM 146): De imaginibus sive septem planetarum; Liber planetarum (Liber Saturni); Liber Mercurii; De imaginibus et horis; Liber septem planetarum ex scientia Abel; Liber orationum planetarum septem – [Belenus] Liber imaginum Lunae; De viginti quattuor horis; De imaginibus diei et noctis; De quattuor imaginibus magnis; De discretione operis differencia ex iudiciis Hermetis; De imaginibus septem planetarum; De lapidibus Veneris – [Toz Graecus] De stationibus ad cultum Veneris – [Toz Graecus / Germa Babiloniensis] Liber Veneris; De quattuor speculis; De duodecim annulis – [Germa >>>

Principal Investigator

Loris Sturlese Università degli Studi del SALENTO

Research Objectives

The identification, study and the publication of unedited texts appears to be a very important step towards reconstructing large sections of medieval philosophical thought in a persuasive way, and it constitutes therefore a first-priority objective of research. The project proposed here is intendet to addres this important step, and with the involvement of different groups and forms of expertise it aims to publish a new and well-defined series of annotated editions and studies, to start a new series of annotated editions and finally to provide a series of interpretive studies, translations and commentaries to accompany the editorial work. - The specific research projects (which profit from a wide already operating international collaboration) are centered in different epochs of medieval philosophy. The four research Units will develop a common methodology in order to investigate and edit their texts as relevant moments in the history of medieval thought.
The working plan of Unit I focuses on the identification, cataloguing, edition and doctrinal study of texts concerning the study of the arts of the trivium produced in the Latin West between the 7th and 12th centuries. The main aim is to highlight the influence of this study on the philosophical-theological production of the period. This could contribute to a definitive evaluation of the impact of logical studies on John Scottus’ great «metaphysic epopee».
The continuity of the neoplatonic tradition seen from a >>>

First Results

Editing of texts of following authors: Meister Eckhart, Ulrich of Strasbourg, Berthold of Moosburg, Jordan of Quedlinburg, Hermes Latinus, Geistbuoch, Nicolas of Strasbourg, Henry of Gand, John of Lichtenberg, Aristoteles Latinus, Durandus of St. Pourçain, Eustratius, Honorius Augustodunensis, anonymous text on the Trivium Arts between IX and XI century. - Critical studies in medieval theology and philosophy, translations of philosophical texts.

Fundamental points regarding the comprehensive advancement of the research: 1) the reconstruction, on the basis of surveys of the manuscript tradition, of the diffusion and influence of authors and works, followed by the location, analysis, and publication of the published and unpublished documents which are of interest to the research; 2) critical editions of unpublished texts and new commented editions of published texts; 3) the demonstration of particular streams of influence of the principal models of knowledge in various chronological-cultural spheres of the Latin West, corresponding to the specific fields of the participants; 4) the identification of new and useful approaches for themes, currents, and problems not yet sufficiently investigated and detailed—approaches useful for a fecund reconsideration of the history of the forms of thought and knowledge which dominated in medieval culture; 4) the production of scientific essays, directed toward documenting the more significant acquired results.
The >>>

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

The researchers who set up the project share the belief that, for the historian of medieval philosophical and scientific thought, the interpretative function should be closely linked to the philological and text-editing dimensions, and that important innovations for the discipline would emerge from the work of recovery and publication of so far unpublished texts.
Several books and articles published between 2000-2006 by members of the four Research Units define the immediate scientific starting point for the project proposed here, which aims at the realization of a series of annotated editions and critical studies over a two-year period.

CCM = "Centro di cultura medievale della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa". Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore, 1985 –
CPTMA = "Corpus Philosophorum Teutonicorum Medii Aevi". Herausgegeben von L. Sturlese unter Mitwirkung von R. Imbach und B. Mojsisch. Hamburg, Meiner, 1977 –
HGOO = "Henrici de Gandavo Opera omnia". Edited by P. Macken et al., Leuven, University Press, 1979 –
HL = "Hermes Latinus". Sotto la direzione di P. Lucentini. Turnhout, Brepols, 1994 –
HM = "Hermetica Mediaevalia". A cura di P. Lucentini. Firenze, Polistampa, 2001 –
LE = "Lectura Eckhardi". Herausgegeben von G. Steer, L. Sturlese. Koordiniert von D. Gottschall. Stuttgart, Kohlhammer, 1998 –
LW = "Meister Eckhart, Die lateinischen Werke" >>>