Research Projects
- (D-2-1) Diagnostics and semiotics. Medical methods for exploring interior bodily space and the theoretical assumptions underlying those methods
The goal of this project is to systematically review the fundamental epistemological principles of a theory of diagnostics and inferences in antiquity – principles which are of equal importance for both philosophy and the history of medicine.
- (D-2-2) Localization of intellectual faculties within the body in materialistic theories of soul-body relation (Archigenes und Poseidonios)
The aim of project D-2-2 was to reconstruct the medical doctrines of the influential Pneumatist physician Archigenes of Apamea (early 2nd c. AD) by preparing a collection of the fragments with translation and commentary, thus laying the foundations for a detailed analysis of the interaction between the Stoics and the Pneumatists. Archigenes was famous particularly for his elaborate classification of various kinds of pain as diagnostic indicators of diseased places within the body; he was also quoted by later authors for his pulse theory.
- (D-2-3) Localization of intellectual faculties within the body in materialistic theories of soul-body relation (Stoa/Pneumatismus)
The aim of project D-2-3 was to investigate Stoic and Pneumatist conceptions of mental processes and illnesses and of the psychology of mental events (place, bodily factors involved, exact mechanisms), and to assess their relation to relevant philosophical and medical contexts. The study focused on the Pneumatist physician Athenaeus of Attalia (1st c. BC), whose works have only survived in fragments. Athenaeus was frequently quoted, especially for his doctrine of elementary physics, his theory of reproduction and his conceptual distinction between various types of causes. A collection of fragments with translation and commentary was a longstanding desideratum fulfilled by this project.
- (D-2-4) Reception and critique of materialist body-soul theories in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period
Most medieval and early modern philosophers took it for granted that the human soul has numerous faculties that enable it to produce a large variety of activities. Thus, thanks to the intellect it can produce acts of thinking, and thanks to the will it can bring about acts of willing. But what are the intellect, the will and other faculties? How are they related to the soul? Where are they located? And how can they be activated in a given situation?
- (D-2-5) Exhibition
The purpose of this project was to present some of the results of the research carried out in research group (D-2) Mapping Body and Soul (and in the Alexander von Humboldt-research group “Medicine of the Mind, Philosophy of the Body”) to a larger, non-specialist audience.
Dissertations
- (D-2-1-1) The antinoopolis medical papyri: A case study in late antique medicinence of Greek Papyri
The main aim of this research project was to re-examine the Greek medical papyri from the Egyptian site of Antinoopolis dating between late 3rd up to 7th century AD.
- (D-2-1-6) Galen, De locis affectis I-II: Critical Edition with Translation and Comments
Historical-critical edition of the first two books of the work “On The Affected Parts” by Galen of Pergamon.
- (D-2-2-1) Mapping the role of Memory in Galen's oeuvre
The field of ‘memory studies’ has seen a boom in recent years, however, historians of ancient philosophy and medicine have undervalued the study of memory in ancient medical texts.
- (D-2-4-1) Immaterialität, Materialität, Intentionalität. Johannes Buridans Philosophie des Geistes
This dissertation project concerned philosophical psychology and epistemology, and their metaphysical underpinnings in the late Middle Ages, focussing on critiques of cognitivist arguments for the immaterial nature of the human mind.