Der Büchergarten (The Book Garden) – Readings from the History of Philosophy
How does one read a philosophical text from the past? The lecture series “Der Büchergarten” (The Book Garden) questions the obviousness of the nature of text interpretation and focuses on the reading of philosophical history as a multi-layered scientific practice. Specialists in the history of thought are invited to illustrate a method of text analysis that deals with the historicity of sources, concepts, and cultural, social, and linguistic contexts. The format of the event provides for the guest to give a short introductory lecture (approx. 25 minutes) and then lead a text reading, which offers the opportunity for a joint discussion.
So far, texts by Nicholas of Cusa, Thomas Aquinas, Proclus, Spinoza, Giordano Bruno, and Sextus Empiricus have been read.
The event is being organized in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Gregor Nickel (Philosophy and History of Mathematics).
Current
Winter term 2024/25
Sextus Empiricus
Wednesday, January 15, 2025, 10–12 p.m., c.t., AR-UB 114
Prof. Dr. Emidio Spinelli (Rome)
Sceptical Platforms: Today, But Especially Yesterday...
Pyrrhoniae Hypotyposes I 8–10, 23–25;
Adversus Mathematicos XI 160–166
Wednesday, January 22, 2025, 10–12 p.m., c.t., AR-NA 016
Prof. Dr. Christoph Horn (Bonn)
Sextus Empiricus und Plotin über Selbstwissen
(Sextus Empiricus and Plotinus on Self-Knowledge)
Adversus Mathematicos VII 284–287; 310–312;
Enneades II.9 [33] 1; V.3 [49] 5
Semester History
Winter term 2023/24
Giordano Bruno
Prof. Dr. Anne Eusterschulte (Berlin)
Einheitsmetaphysik und Philosophie der Materie
(Unitary Metaphysics and Philosophy of Matter)
De la causa, principio et uno, excerpts
Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Blum & Prof. Dr. Paul Richard Blum (Baltimore)
Religion und Kosmologie (Religion and Cosmology)
Spaccio de la bestia trionfante, Erläuternder Brief
Winter term 2022/23
Spinoza
Tuesday, January 17, 2023, 10–12 p.m., c.t., US-C 101
Prof. Dr. Dominik Perler (Berlin)
Wie ist Erkenntnis möglich? (How is Knowledge Possible?)
Ethica, pars II, prop. 19–29, 35, 40–41
Tuesday, January 24, 2023, 10–12 p.m., c.t., US-C 101
Prof. Dr. Kristina Engelhard (Trier)
Die Modalität der einen Substanz (The Modality of the One Substance)
Ethica, pars I, defin., axiom., prop. 1–11
Winter term 2021/22
Proclus
Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 4–6 p.m., c.t., US-C 102
Prof. Dr. Christoph Helmig (Cologne)
Proklos über die Seele und Erkenntnis (Proclus on the Soul and Knowledge)
Elementatio Theologica, §§ 186, 191, 194–195
Wednesday, January 19, 2022, 4–6 p.m., c.t., US-C 102
Prof. Dr. Gyburg Uhlmann (Berlin)
Die Rolle der Phantasia und Dianoia in der Mathematik
(The Role of Phantasia and Dianoia in Mathematics)
Kommentar zu Euklids Elementen, 50.10–56.21
Winter term 2020/21
Thomas Aquinas
Prof. Dr. Maarten J.F.M. Hoenen (Basel)
Mensch und Metapher (Human and Metaphor)
Summa theologiae I, q. 1, art. 9–10;
Summa contra gentiles III, 119
Thursday, January 21, 2021, 4–6 p.m., c.t., US-C 102
Prof. Dr. Isabelle Mandrella (Munich)
Gibt es im Menschen ein natürliches Gesetz? Philosophische Ethik bei Thomas von Aquin
(Is There a Natural Law in Human Beings? Philosophical Ethics in Thomas Aquinas)
Summa theologiae I–II q. 91, art. 2; q. 94, art. 2
Winter term 2019/20
Nicholas of Cusa
Prof. Dr. Thomas Leinkauf (Münster)
Geist und Göttliche Trinität (Spirit and Divine Trinity)
Idiota de mente, cap. 11
Dr. Hans Gerhard Senger (Cologne)
Einheit oder Vielheit der Erkenntnis? (Unity or Multiplicity of Knowledge?)
De coniecturis I, cap. 4–8
