Thomas Institute

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The Thomas Institute is primarily a research institute with the main focus on philosophical Medieval Studies . It is connected to the Philosophical Seminar of the University of Cologne , the chair holder for Medieval Philosophy is also director of the institute. For some time now, the Thomas Institute has also been a reference library and offers students and interested parties the opportunity to work on their studies.

history

This construction goes back to Joseph Karl Koch , who came to Cologne in 1948 and achieved the establishment of the institute in 1950. This created the basis for a highly specialized specialist library on medieval intellectual history. Successors in the management of the institute were Paul Wilpert (1954–1967), Albert Zimmermann (–1993), Jan A. Aertsen (–2003) and Andreas Speer (since 2004).

research

The main task is the source-critical indexing of writings on medieval philosophy. For this purpose, critical editions are created and historical as well as systematic works by medieval authors are processed. In addition to Aristotelian writings, these include the Averroes latinus , research on Albertus Magnus , Thomas von Aquin , Nikolaus von Kues , Meister Eckhart , Durandus von St. Pourçain and Theophilus Presbyter .

Although the focus of the institute's research is clearly on medieval philosophy, research is also carried out in the field of ancient and, in some cases, modern philosophy. An annual report is published in which the Thomas Institute provides information about its members, publications and research activities. The first annual report was published for the period 1994–1995. The annual report has been published regularly since then.

Events

The institute hosts a number of lectures, but also participates in other events that take place around the university. Probably the largest and at the same time oldest event of the institute is the Mediävistentagung. A more recent but equally prestigious event is controversial philosophy , the subject of which varies from semester to semester. In addition to these two events, the Thomas Institute is involved in the Albertus Magnus Professorship, the Meister Eckhart Prize, the Cologne-Bonn Colloquium and the Schedula diversarum artium.

Mediaeval Conference

The Cologne Mediävistentagungen are international science conferences that take place every two years with a different topic. In this way, the institute has promoted interdisciplinary collaboration between medieval disciplines since it was founded. After the conference held on September 8, 2008 on the subject of The Templars 1308 , the Thomas Institute invited to the 37th Cologne Media Conference to discuss the subject of “Byzantium Junction” with Georgi Kapriev , Dimitri Gutas and Daniel Ziemann , among others . In September 2012, the 38th Cologne Media Conference on “The Law” followed.

Controversial philosophy

Philosophy controversial is the title of the lecture forum of the Philosophical Seminar of the University of Cologne. The attempt is made to discuss issues in a controversial manner in a disputative manner, i.e. in addition to the main speaker there is always a commentator or opponent.

Albertus Magnus Professorship

The Albertus Magnus Professorship is named after the medieval polymath Albertus Magnus , who taught in Cologne from 1248 to 1254 at the Dominican General Studies. The University of Cologne established this professorship in close cooperation with the Thomas Institute, which appoints a person of international standing who will deal with questions of general importance in public lectures and seminars for a few days.

literature

  • Josef Koch: "The Thomas Institute. Research center for special philosophical tasks at the University of Cologne". In: Bulletin of the Working Group for Research of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia 4 (1955): 8-14.
  • Erich Meuthen : "The Thomas Institute. Pre- and founding history". In: End and Consummation. Eschatological Perspectives in the Middle Ages. Edited by Jan A. Aertsen and Martin Pickavé, with a contribution to the history of the Thomas Institute of the University of Cologne on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the institute's foundation. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 2002. 3-20.
  • Andreas Speer : "50 years of Cologne media event conferences: an overview". In: End and Consummation. Eschatological Perspectives in the Middle Ages. Edited by Jan A. Aertsen and Martin Pickavé, with a contribution to the history of the Thomas Institute of the University of Cologne on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the institute's foundation. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter, 2002. 36-47.
  • Andreas Speer: The Meister Eckhart Archive at the Thomas Institute of the University of Cologne. The continuity of the research tasks . In: Bulletin de philosophie médiévale Vol. 37 (1995), pp. 149-174.

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