Thomas-Institut
The Thomas-Institut is a research Institute whose function is to study medieval philosophy by preparing critical editions as well as historical and systematic studies of medieval authors.General information
The Thomas-Institut was founded in 1950 by Josef Koch, then Professor for medieval philosophy at the University of Cologne. Forming part of the Faculty of Humanities and, more particularly, the , the Thomas-Institut is a research Institute whose function it is to serve the study of medieval philosophy by preparing critical editions and historical and systematic studies of medieval authors. The director of the Institute is the professor holding the chair in medieval philosophy at the university.
Since communicating the results of this work is an essential part of the task of the Institute, the staff gives various courses in medieval philosophy at the University of Cologne. Jointly with twenty other departments - from History and Philology to Byzantine, Jewish and Islamic Studies - the Thomas-Institute organizes an extensive programme for medieval studies, the Zentrum für Mittelalterstudien.
Since its beginnings the Thomas-Institut has attached importance to international cooperation and exchange, and many of the projects pursued at the Thomas-Institut are international collaborations. The Mediaevistentagung, taking place every two years, has become one of the foremost conferences on medieval studies in Europe, furthering international and interdisciplinary research. The proceedings are published in the Miscellanea Mediaevalia series, edited by the Institute and published by de Gruyter.
In addition to its own projects the Thomas-Institut sponsors several ongoing editions which are funded and organized by other institutions. The most important at present are the Averroes Latinus project of the International Union of Academies, funded by the Nordrhein-Westfäische Akademie der Wissenschaften, and the critical edition of the works of Nicolaus Cusanus with the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. The Thomas-Institut likewise participates in the Aristoteles Latinus project organized by the International Union of Academies, it hosts the Meister Eckhart Archiv and has recently started the critical edition of Durandus of St. Pourçain.
Since its beginnings the Thomas-Institut has edited the Studien und Texte zur Geistesgeschichte des Mittelalters published by Brill, one of the most renowned series in medieval philosophy and medieval studies. In 1997, together with the , the Thomas-Institut took over the journal Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie médiévales. For further information about the publications of the Thomas-Institut, see Research
- Conditions of Scientific Discourse in Medieval Arabic, Hebrew, Byzantine and Latin Culture
Scientific discourse in the Middle Ages has its common ground in the reception of Greek learning from late Antiquity. It is diversified, however, according to the sociological and institutional as well as religious and theological framework in which Greek science is integrated. Besides that, the processes of rationalisation taking place in various fields of knowledge exercise a considerable influence. Key-words like "Reception of Dionysius", "Reception of Aristotle", and "Averroism" refer us to a complex structure of medieval bodies of knowledge. This structure has to be understood as the result of far-reaching processes of reception and transformation, transmission and translation. Inquiries in this area demand a combination of philosophical, philological, and historiographical competences. Research at the Thomas-Institut focuses on the contexts of transmission, on the attempts to define the meaning of "philosophy", and on the formation of epistemological and institutional canons.
- Intellect, Mind and Soul: Concepts, Stratifications and Boundaries. A Critical Evaluation of the Medieval Debates
The debate on intellect, mind and soul is currently one of those philosophical topics generating the most innovative questions. Medieval philosophy is of central importance in this respect, since it furnishes a rich tradition of investigation in this area. The problem was dealt with in all the medieval philosophical and theological cultures and languages. While differences abounded in every milieu, some solutions were adopted across boundaries. The medieval contribution is interesting from the point of view of the history of ideas, but the reception of traditions from Antiquity also engendered new theories. The confrontation of these theories in epistemological debates from the 13th century to the Renaissance lead to the development of new models. One may think for instance of "augustinisme avicennisant", the Averroistic theory of intellect, and the combination of Aristotelian and pseudo-Dionysian noetics. When one examines the modern debate on the background just sketched, it becomes clear that medieval philosophy provides models and perspectives both richer in arguments and truly interdisciplinary. This topic has already been made the object of research by an international network of institutions working on medieval philosophy in which the Thomas-Institut participates.Ongoing research projects
- The Relationship between Philosophy and Wisdom
- * Philosophy and Wisdom in the Middle Ages
A Contribution to the Development of the Western Concept of Philosophy
Behind the terminological opposition of philosophy and wisdom, into whose reasons this project enquires, emerges another problem: the origin of philosophy. Thus the medieval debate is representative of a basic discourse, which always anew attempts to determine the essence of philosophy. The Middle Ages, and especially the 13th century are of prime importance for the reconstruction of the affaire de cœur of philosophy and wisdom. In the second half of this century the reception of an Aristotelian idea of philosophical wisdom sparks a major controversy about the identity of philosophy, a controversy that presages many of the questions asked in the modern era. The results which have been reached in a number of case-studies will be assembled and assessed in context.
- * "Rhizomatics": the Art of Living and Wisdom as Bridges for a Transcultural Philosophy
In this project "rhizomatics" and nomadism as developed by the French philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari are employed to address transcultural issues. At the heart of this project are the concept of philosophy, its relation to wisdom, methodology and ethics and possible forms and constructions of philosophy. Besides the French and German Literature on Deleuze the project will take into account the reception and resonance of his ideas in Spanish-American thought.
- * New Perspectives in the Historiography of Medieval Philosophy
What is medieval philosophy? This question has been answered in a variety of ways even before Gilson's influential attempts to give a definitive reply. Such answers are always bound up with a certain idea of philosophy and its resulting mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion. But if one takes into account the dynamics proper to different cultural frameworks which transferred the philosophical inheritance from late Antiquity into modernity, one must try to describe its interactions more closely, disregarding the classical narratives of medieval philosophy. In order to realise this, new methodological approaches will be attempted. This project forms part of the InterLink-project "Soggetto e statuto della filosofia nel Medioevo. Nuove prospettive di ricerca nell'edizione critica dei testi e nelle metodologie di indagine storiografica".
- Thomas Aquinas in Philosophical Context
- * Thomas Aquinas, In librum Beati Dionysii De divinis nominibus expositione, Book IV, Lectiones 1-10
Thomas Aquinas's commentary on Dionysius is an exemplary case for the study of the encounter of the Latin and the Byzantine Middle Ages. Of special interest are Thomas's first ten "Lectiones" on the fourth book of his model. Here, central themes of Neoplatonism are treated: the Good, light, beauty, and love. A translation and commentary on the basis of a revised Latin text is in preparation.
Edith Stein's translations of Aquinas are not only an important document for the intellectual development of Husserl's former assistant but also show in an exemplary case the encounter of Neoscholasticism and modern philosophy at the beginning of the 20th century. In the framework of the new edition of the works of Edith Stein her translation of the Quaestiones disputatae de veritate and her yet unpublished translation of De ente et essential will be edited alongside a number of further "Thomistica".
- * Thomas Aquinas, Quaestio disputata "De libero arbitrio"
This text is a key to understanding Aquinas's teaching on free choice as foundation of truly human, that is to say responsible and autonomous action. A German translation of this text on the basis of the Editio Leonina is currently in preparation and will be published, together with an extensive introduction, by Reclam.
- The Medieval Theory of Transcendentals
The project is dedicated to the historical development of the theory of transcendentals from its formation in the thirteenth century up to its treatment in the Disputationes metaphysicae by Francesco Suárez. It likewise deals with the significance of the theory of transcendentals for medieval philosophy in general.
- The "Super"-Transcendental and the Splitting of Metaphysics
In search of the origins and motives of the splitting of metaphysics in the 17th and 18th century into a metaphysica generalis and metaphysica specialis, conceived for the first time by Francis of Marchia at the beginning of the 14th century, this project enquires into the relationship between the first object of the human intellect and the proper object of metaphysics as they present themselves in conceptions of metaphysics after the time of Duns Scotus. Especially the attempt to define the primum obiectum intellectus as "super-transcendental" has a constitutive function for the legitimating of a twofold metaphysics.
According to the account of the development of first philosophy predominant today, this discipline underwent a transformation since the late Middle Ages, in the course of which the Aristotelian theory of being was dissolved and reformed as an onto-logic of that which can be thought, thus immediately preparing Kant's transcendental philosophy. This interpretation needs to be revised in order to show that the said transformation did not exceed the boundaries of the traditional concept of science. On the contrary, in the teachings of the main representatives of the discipline up to Wolff and Baumgarten one finds a new concept of the theory of being as a theory of the universal and necessary structure of reality which is common to God and every possible world. Thus we do not encounter abolition but rather a radicalisation of tendencies which have shaped the development of first philosophy since the medieval reception of Aristotle and his Arabic interpreters. These tendencies are: the turn from a theological to an ontological concept of first philosophy, from its conception as practical wisdom to the idea of a universal theoretical science, from transcendent being as the starting point of thought to the transcategorical and thus transcendental content of being as such.
- Master Eckhart: Historical and Systematical Perspectives
As part of the research on the medieval theory of transcendentia, this project examines the peculiar form which the theory of transcendentals takes in Meister Eckhart. The project attempts at the same time to reconstruct Eckhart's Opus propositionum, especially the 9th tractate: "De natura superioris, et inferioris eius oppositi".
- A Mystical Treatise between Convention and Provocation - Possibilities and Limits of Expression in the "Theologia deutsch"
The treatise written in the 14th century which became popular in the 16th under the title Theologia deutsch, has been considered in scholarship mainly from two perspectives: on the one hand as a key text of the Reformation - it was first edited by Martin Luther - on the other hand as a document of timeless Christian spirituality that can inspire and direct even the life of modern readers. Both approaches have invested the Theologia deutsch with an aura which obfuscates its specific theologico-philosophical profile. Originally it was an anonymous treatise from the context of the so-called "German Mysticism" of the 14th century, transmitted in only a few manuscripts. This is where the planned investigation begins: Disregarding its reception during the Reformation, the Theologia deutsch is examined it its original formative context and thus as a mystical treatise of a special type, which does not at all transmit a timeless spirituality but rather - like other Latin and colloquial texts - sounds out possibilities of expression. The study centres on the Christology and the doctrine of God of the Theologia deutsch. Besides that it discusses - since according to the prologue the author was an anonymous Knight of the German Order from Francfurt - the problems of authorship, authority, and authenticity.
In the beginnings of the University of Paris around the year 1200 the Magister William of Auxerre wrote his explanation of liturgy which attempts to elucidate all the cultic-ritual actions and objects of Christian liturgy and to suggest their hidden meaning. The edition of the yet unpublished Summa de officiis ecclesiasticis makes use of the possibilities of digital data processing and further develops in this medium the methodological standards and formats of presentation established for printed editions. The edition is accompanied by a study on the concept of time which forms the basis of William's interpretation of the liturgy and according to which several levels of time and meaning become intertwined during the ritual.
- Ibn Bâjja's Kitâb al-nafs: The First Western Commentary on the De anima
Ibn Bâjja, known to the Latin scholastics as "Avempace", was - as the predecessor of Averroes - the first Spanish-Arabic philosopher to comment in a systematical manner upon the writings of Aristotle. Thus he prepared the work of "the Commentator" with respect to both method and content. This is true especially in the field of psychology and the doctrine of intellect where Ibn Bâjja, as a follower of Alexander of Aphrodisias and Alfarabi, formed an Aristotelian counterbalance to the psychology of Avicenna, which was more strongly influenced by Neoplatonism and by the medical tradition. With the preparation of the critical edition and German translation of the Kitâb al-nafs Ibn Bâjja's most central writing on psychology shall be rendered accessible in a reliable form supplemented with guides to its sources. The edition will be accompanied by a study which - for the first time - examines in detail the philosophical questions and solutions of this early period of the reception of De anima. It enquires into the conceptual and historical background of problems like the concept of intention or the so-called "conjunction with the Active Intellect" - ideas which came to exercise a longstanding and varied influence.
- "The Birth of a World". Investigations into Themes in the Thought of Michel Foucault
Starting from an analysis of the opposition of truth and fiction dictated by the traditional idea of philosophy and science, and an examination of the concomitant confrontation of philosophy and science on the one hand and literature on the other hand this study investigates the peculiar status which Michel Foucault gives to the concept of knowledge. This concept of knowledge corresponds in Foucault's writings to a specific concept of fiction in a way that has yet to be clearly defined. To this end Foucault's early texts, the long Binswanger-introduction, and the Archéologie du savoir are all searched for a motif which can be called - employing an expression by Foucault himself - the "Birth of a World". The investigation into this theme renders visible elements of "structure" and "history". In the course of this reading the evolution of the foundational thought-structures leading to Foucault's specific concept of knowledge will be examined.