The task of the Research Centre is to select the edition of the manuscript estate of the important explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859), the complete edition of his dependent publications, and the historical analysis of the scientific heritage. Extensive collections of copies of letters from and to Humboldt as well as of his travel diaries have been created for this purpose. These and…
The “Augustinus-Lexikon” (AL) is a multivolume dictionary of terms and encyclopaedia of Augustine, his life and thinking, his works, people from his personal environment and his contemporary historical context (places, things and circumstances of social, political, cultural, and cultic importance), that comprises about 1200 lemmas.
The terms characteristic of Augustine’s thinking are presented…
The Aristotle annotations of Ibn Rušd or Averroes (1126–1198) form a total of the Arabic reception of the Greek philosophy and from the Late Antiquity. As such, they have had a formative influence on the respective discourses of knowledge, especially in their Latin and Hebrew translations over the centuries. The project deals with an yet unexplored part of Ibn Rušd’s natural philosophy, which at…
Within the framework of the project, the works of Averroes (1126 - 1198) translated into Latin are to be critically edited. Averroes is Ibn Ruschd, an Arabic-speaking Hispanic Muslim who studied and edited the scientific literature of his time available to him. In particular, his commentaries on Aristotle were translated from Arabic into Latin (later also into Hebrew) from the first half of the…
The project provides critical editions of ancient and, especially, Byzantine commentaries, paraphrases, compendia and scholia on the text of Aristotle.
Aristotle, probably the most influential philosopher of classical Antiquity, continuously attracted the attention of readers and commentators all throughout the Greek Middle Ages, far beyond the end of Antiquity itself. However, the texts…
Through critical editions of authoritative commentaries and sermons on Old Testament texts as well as comparative studies, the Academy's project “Die alexandrinische und antiochenische Bibelexegese in der Spätantike” opens up a central part of the literature of ancient Christianity - namely the interpretation of that part of the Christian Holy Scripture which Christianity shares with its mother…
The research and edition project on the Fruitbearing Society (1617-1680; 890 members) is dedicated to an organisation that, as a comprehensive German Academy of the 17th century, was linked to a variety of linguistic, literary, scholarly, and (educational) political ambitions. Their work is inherent in national and European perspectives, which remained productive until the Enlightenment.
The School of Salamanca or “Spanish late scholasticism” of the 16th and early 17th centuries is one of the most influential epochs of early modern European thought because of its importance for jurisprudence and political philosophy. The project has two objectives: Firstly, to digitally record and present the central texts of the “School of Salamanca” in an overall corpus that follows uniform…
The aim of the project is to produce a critical, annotated edition of the scientific writings of the Göttingen physicist and philosopher Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 - 1799). Lichtenberg was one of the most respected experimental physicists of his time and was also active in many other scientific disciplines. His writings are highly significant testimonies and sources for the history of the…
In international collaboration with researchers from the USA, Canada, and Austria, the project produces the critical edition of the sentence commentaries of the Dominican theologian Richard Fishacre (founded in Oxford in the 1240s) and the Franciscan theologian Robert Cowton (founded about 1309-1311 in Oxford). The edition of the Sentences Commentary of the Franciscan Wilhelm de la Mare (written…
The aim of the project of the Saxon Academy of Sciences “Europäische Traditionen - Enzyklopädie jüdischer Kulturen” is the development and conceptual penetration of Jewish life worlds in Europe from the early modern period to the middle of the 20th century. It is based on the “Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture”. Completed in 2017, the work, which contains around 800 articles in seven…
The purpose of the project is to create an edition of the collected works of the historian of philosophy and religious philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach (1804 - 1872). Especially through his criticism of Hegel, in his writing "Das Wesen des Christentums“ as well as the drafts for a "Philosophie der Zukunft" and his "Vorlesungen über das Wesen der Religion“ Ludwig Feuerbach has a lasting influence on…
The task of the project is to produce a critical edition of the works, the handwritten estate and correspondence of the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762 - 1814). This represents an essential contribution to the visualisation of German philosophy of Classicism and an instrument of current worldwide philosophical discussion. In addition, „Kollegnachschriften“ are published in a separate…
The task of the project is the development of a historico-critical edition and annotation of letters by and to the philosopher Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743 - 1819). Genuine and fictitious letters characterised Jacobi's work. A epistolary novel (Allwill), a novel with interspersed letters (Woldemar), epistles and about 2800 recorded letters testify to the meaning he gave to this literary form of…
The exchange of letters between the philosopher, poet, writer and economic reformer Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819) has a unique significance for the understanding of the era of Classical German Philosophy – both because of its philosophical orientation, which reflects the discourse of the era in its entire breadth and diversity, and also because of the circle of pen pals. Jacobi’s…
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834) is one of the most important figures of spiritual life in Germany in the classical epoch around 1800, and his work continues to have a multidisciplinary and international impact up to the present day.
After the defeat of Prussia in 1806 and the dissolution of the University of Halle, where he had been professor of theology and philosophy and…
The project “Galen als Vollender, Interpret und Vermittler der antiken Medizin” edits, translates, and comments on medical texts by Galen, which - from today’s perspective - are in the field of tension between the natural sciences and the humanities.
Galen von Pergamon, who worked in Rome in the 2nd century CE as medical advisor to Emperor Marcus Aurelius, became with his extensive oeuvre the…
This project aims to edit all of Büchner's surviving writings – including excerpts – in an critical manner based on the manuscripts or first editions, and will be published by the Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt. The documentary material on the genesis of his writings as well as on his life and early repception is completly reproduced. Further focal points are the documentation of the…
With the project “Grundlagen, Normen und Kriterien der ethischen Urteilsbildung in den Biowissenschaften – Referenzzentrum” the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE) creates the scientific basis for a qualified bioethical discussion in a German, European, and International framework. For this purpose, the relevant interdisciplinary information, the social issues that have…
The "ground plan" of the history of German poetry from its sources is the basic work of German literary historical research that was simultaneously developed and grown with the subject. The aim is to explore and process all the essential historical facts and data on the development of German literature from its beginning to the end of the 19th century. The chronological presentation of the…