​

The Intercultural Roots of Early Scholasticism:

Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic into Latin

Council Room, King's College London

23-24 January 2020

 

The late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries represent a dynamic period in Western intellectual history. These were years, before Aristotle’s works were fully digested, during which philosophical works written in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic were becoming available in Latin for the first time, skewing understanding of Aristotle considerably and introducing themes into Latin thought in their own right. This moreover is the period during which the the Franciscan intellectual tradition was borne, not least in the collaboratively authored Summa Halensis, which represents an initial synthesis of that tradition. The proposed workshop seeks to better understand the phenomenon of the confluence of Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic sources that influenced Franciscan thinking and indeed Franciscan interpretations of thinkers like Aristotle and Augustine by investigating more closely those sources and their transmission into Latin. In this connection, papers are welcome on any aspect of the Greek/Arabic/Hebrew tradition that had an influence on early scholastic thought, including that of Franciscans, particularly in the first half of the thirteenth century. While it is not necessary to deal extensively with Latin thought, we would be grateful if speakers could make reference to the paper’s topic on its development. 

 

 

Tentative List of Speakers

John Marenbon

Charles Burnett

Alexander Fidora

Cristina D’Ancona

Dag Hasse

Lydia Schumacher

Nicola Polloni

Amos Bertolacci

Riccardo Saccenti