Project acronym 9 SALT
Project Reassessing Ninth Century Philosophy. A Synchronic Approach to the Logical Traditions
Researcher (PI) Christophe Florian Erismann
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Consolidator Grant (CoG), SH5, ERC-2014-CoG
Summary This project aims at a better understanding of the philosophical richness of ninth century thought using the unprecedented and highly innovative method of the synchronic approach. The hypothesis directing this synchronic approach is that studying together in parallel the four main philosophical traditions of the century – i.e. Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic – will bring results that the traditional enquiry limited to one tradition alone can never reach. This implies pioneering a new methodology to overcome the compartmentalization of research which prevails nowadays. Using this method is only possible because the four conditions of applicability – comparable intellectual environment, common text corpus, similar methodological perspective, commensurable problems – are fulfilled. The ninth century, a time of cultural renewal in the Carolingian, Byzantine and Abbasid empires, possesses the remarkable characteristic – which ensures commensurability – that the same texts, namely the writings of Aristotelian logic (mainly Porphyry’s Isagoge and Aristotle’s Categories) were read and commented upon in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic alike.
Logic is fundamental to philosophical enquiry. The contested question is the human capacity to rationalise, analyse and describe the sensible reality, to understand the ontological structure of the world, and to define the types of entities which exist. The use of this unprecedented synchronic approach will allow us a deeper understanding of the positions, a clear identification of the a priori postulates of the philosophical debates, and a critical evaluation of the arguments used. It provides a unique opportunity to compare the different traditions and highlight the heritage which is common, to stress the specificities of each tradition when tackling philosophical issues and to discover the doctrinal results triggered by their mutual interactions, be they constructive (scholarly exchanges) or polemic (religious controversies).
Summary
This project aims at a better understanding of the philosophical richness of ninth century thought using the unprecedented and highly innovative method of the synchronic approach. The hypothesis directing this synchronic approach is that studying together in parallel the four main philosophical traditions of the century – i.e. Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic – will bring results that the traditional enquiry limited to one tradition alone can never reach. This implies pioneering a new methodology to overcome the compartmentalization of research which prevails nowadays. Using this method is only possible because the four conditions of applicability – comparable intellectual environment, common text corpus, similar methodological perspective, commensurable problems – are fulfilled. The ninth century, a time of cultural renewal in the Carolingian, Byzantine and Abbasid empires, possesses the remarkable characteristic – which ensures commensurability – that the same texts, namely the writings of Aristotelian logic (mainly Porphyry’s Isagoge and Aristotle’s Categories) were read and commented upon in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Arabic alike.
Logic is fundamental to philosophical enquiry. The contested question is the human capacity to rationalise, analyse and describe the sensible reality, to understand the ontological structure of the world, and to define the types of entities which exist. The use of this unprecedented synchronic approach will allow us a deeper understanding of the positions, a clear identification of the a priori postulates of the philosophical debates, and a critical evaluation of the arguments used. It provides a unique opportunity to compare the different traditions and highlight the heritage which is common, to stress the specificities of each tradition when tackling philosophical issues and to discover the doctrinal results triggered by their mutual interactions, be they constructive (scholarly exchanges) or polemic (religious controversies).
Max ERC Funding
1 998 566 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-09-01, End date: 2020-08-31
Project acronym AYURYOG
Project Medicine, Immortality, Moksha: Entangled Histories of Yoga, Ayurveda and Alchemy in South Asia
Researcher (PI) Dagmar Wujastyk
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITAT WIEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH6, ERC-2014-STG
Summary The project will examine the histories of yoga, ayurveda and rasashastra (Indian alchemy and iatrochemistry) from the tenth century to the present, focussing on the disciplines' health, rejuvenation and longevity practices. The goals of the project are to reveal the entanglements of these historical traditions, and to trace the trajectories of their evolution as components of today's global healthcare and personal development industries.
Our hypothesis is that practices aimed at achieving health, rejuvenation and longevity constitute a key area of exchange between the three disciplines, preparing the grounds for a series of important pharmaceutical and technological innovations and also profoundly influencing the discourses of today's medicalized forms of globalized yoga as well as of contemporary institutionalized forms of ayurveda and rasashastra.
Drawing upon the primary historical sources of each respective tradition as well as on fieldwork data, the research team will explore the shared terminology, praxis and theory of these three disciplines. We will examine why, when and how health, rejuvenation and longevity practices were employed; how each discipline’s discourse and practical applications relates to those of the others; and how past encounters and cross-fertilizations impact on contemporary health-related practices in yogic, ayurvedic and alchemists’ milieus.
The five-year project will be based at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at Vienna University and carried out by an international team of 3 post-doctoral researchers. The research will be grounded in the fields of South Asian studies and social history. An international workshop and an international conference will be organized to present and discuss the research results, which will also be published in peer-reviewed journals, an edited volume, and in individual monographs. A project website will provide open access to all research results.
Summary
The project will examine the histories of yoga, ayurveda and rasashastra (Indian alchemy and iatrochemistry) from the tenth century to the present, focussing on the disciplines' health, rejuvenation and longevity practices. The goals of the project are to reveal the entanglements of these historical traditions, and to trace the trajectories of their evolution as components of today's global healthcare and personal development industries.
Our hypothesis is that practices aimed at achieving health, rejuvenation and longevity constitute a key area of exchange between the three disciplines, preparing the grounds for a series of important pharmaceutical and technological innovations and also profoundly influencing the discourses of today's medicalized forms of globalized yoga as well as of contemporary institutionalized forms of ayurveda and rasashastra.
Drawing upon the primary historical sources of each respective tradition as well as on fieldwork data, the research team will explore the shared terminology, praxis and theory of these three disciplines. We will examine why, when and how health, rejuvenation and longevity practices were employed; how each discipline’s discourse and practical applications relates to those of the others; and how past encounters and cross-fertilizations impact on contemporary health-related practices in yogic, ayurvedic and alchemists’ milieus.
The five-year project will be based at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at Vienna University and carried out by an international team of 3 post-doctoral researchers. The research will be grounded in the fields of South Asian studies and social history. An international workshop and an international conference will be organized to present and discuss the research results, which will also be published in peer-reviewed journals, an edited volume, and in individual monographs. A project website will provide open access to all research results.
Max ERC Funding
1 416 146 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-06-01, End date: 2020-05-31
Project acronym DecentLivingEnergy
Project Energy and emissions thresholds for providing decent living standards to all
Researcher (PI) Narasimha Desirazu Rao
Host Institution (HI) INTERNATIONALES INSTITUT FUER ANGEWANDTE SYSTEMANALYSE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH3, ERC-2014-STG
Summary There is confusion surrounding how poverty eradication will contribute to climate change. This is due to knowledge gaps related to the material basis of poverty, and the relationship between energy and human development. Addressing this issue rigorously requires bridging gaps between global justice, economics, energy systems analysis, and industrial ecology, and applying this knowledge to projections of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This project will develop a body of knowledge that quantifies the energy needs and related climate change impacts for providing decent living standards to all. The research will address three questions: which goods and services, and with what characteristics, constitute ‘decent living standards’? What energy resources are required to provide these goods and services in different countries, and what impact will this energy use have on climate change? How do the constituents of decent living and their energy needs evolve as countries develop? The first task will operationalize basic needs views of human development and advance their empirical validity by discerning characteristics of basic goods in household consumption patterns. The second will quantify the energy needs (and climate-related emissions) for decent living constituents and reveal their dependence on culture, climate, technology, and other contextual conditions in countries. This will be done using lifecycle analysis and input-output analysis, and mapping energy to climate change using state-of-the-art energy-economy integrated assessment modelling tools for 5 emerging economies that face the challenges of eradicating poverty and mitigating climate change. The third task will shed light on path dependencies and trends in the evolution of basic goods and their energy intensity using empirical analysis. This research will identify opportunities to shift developing societies towards low-carbon pathways, and help quantify burden-sharing arrangements for climate mitigation.
Summary
There is confusion surrounding how poverty eradication will contribute to climate change. This is due to knowledge gaps related to the material basis of poverty, and the relationship between energy and human development. Addressing this issue rigorously requires bridging gaps between global justice, economics, energy systems analysis, and industrial ecology, and applying this knowledge to projections of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This project will develop a body of knowledge that quantifies the energy needs and related climate change impacts for providing decent living standards to all. The research will address three questions: which goods and services, and with what characteristics, constitute ‘decent living standards’? What energy resources are required to provide these goods and services in different countries, and what impact will this energy use have on climate change? How do the constituents of decent living and their energy needs evolve as countries develop? The first task will operationalize basic needs views of human development and advance their empirical validity by discerning characteristics of basic goods in household consumption patterns. The second will quantify the energy needs (and climate-related emissions) for decent living constituents and reveal their dependence on culture, climate, technology, and other contextual conditions in countries. This will be done using lifecycle analysis and input-output analysis, and mapping energy to climate change using state-of-the-art energy-economy integrated assessment modelling tools for 5 emerging economies that face the challenges of eradicating poverty and mitigating climate change. The third task will shed light on path dependencies and trends in the evolution of basic goods and their energy intensity using empirical analysis. This research will identify opportunities to shift developing societies towards low-carbon pathways, and help quantify burden-sharing arrangements for climate mitigation.
Max ERC Funding
869 722 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-06-01, End date: 2019-05-31
Project acronym Hyksos Enigma
Project The Enigma of the Hyksos
Researcher (PI) Manfred Bietak
Host Institution (HI) OESTERREICHISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
Call Details Advanced Grant (AdG), SH6, ERC-2014-ADG
Summary The Hyksos (Greek rendering of the Egyptian title “rulers of the foreign countries”) were a dynasty of foreign rulers of Egypt between c.1640 and 1530 BC. Some modern researchers, following the ancient historian Flavius Josephus (1st cent. AD) thought they were ancestors of the early Israelites, others suggested that their appearance should be tied to the Hurrian expansion to the Levant. Most scholars today think, according to the onomastic data, that they were western Semites. Their geographical origin in the Levant, their seizure of power and their role in history, remains, however, an enigma, as the period is poorly represented in texts. Nevertheless the Hyksos phenomenon has thus far mainly been studied by text-based Egyptology.
In the last decades, however, excavations at T. el-Dab‘a, T. el-Rotaba, T. el Maskhuta and other places in the eastern Delta have produced an enormous wealth of new data such as urban settlements, palaces, tombs, temples, offering remains, besides enormous quantities of material culture and physical remains which can be attributed to the carriers of the Hyksos rule and their predecessors. These materials, left thus far largely aside in the historical discussion, can be utilised as first class historical sources. The envisaged investigations will be conducted in 8 interrelated research tracks, incorporating an array of archaeological, historical, theoretical and analytical sciences. The aim is to reveal in a holistic approach the origin, the dialogue with and the impact of western Asiatic people on culture of the host country and finally their heritage. They played a much greater role in the history of the Old World than envisaged and pushed Egypt into the focus of what happened in the Near East in the 2nd millennium BC. This innovative exploration of the Hyksos phenomenon has the potential to write a new chapter in the history of this salient region and offer a model.
Summary
The Hyksos (Greek rendering of the Egyptian title “rulers of the foreign countries”) were a dynasty of foreign rulers of Egypt between c.1640 and 1530 BC. Some modern researchers, following the ancient historian Flavius Josephus (1st cent. AD) thought they were ancestors of the early Israelites, others suggested that their appearance should be tied to the Hurrian expansion to the Levant. Most scholars today think, according to the onomastic data, that they were western Semites. Their geographical origin in the Levant, their seizure of power and their role in history, remains, however, an enigma, as the period is poorly represented in texts. Nevertheless the Hyksos phenomenon has thus far mainly been studied by text-based Egyptology.
In the last decades, however, excavations at T. el-Dab‘a, T. el-Rotaba, T. el Maskhuta and other places in the eastern Delta have produced an enormous wealth of new data such as urban settlements, palaces, tombs, temples, offering remains, besides enormous quantities of material culture and physical remains which can be attributed to the carriers of the Hyksos rule and their predecessors. These materials, left thus far largely aside in the historical discussion, can be utilised as first class historical sources. The envisaged investigations will be conducted in 8 interrelated research tracks, incorporating an array of archaeological, historical, theoretical and analytical sciences. The aim is to reveal in a holistic approach the origin, the dialogue with and the impact of western Asiatic people on culture of the host country and finally their heritage. They played a much greater role in the history of the Old World than envisaged and pushed Egypt into the focus of what happened in the Near East in the 2nd millennium BC. This innovative exploration of the Hyksos phenomenon has the potential to write a new chapter in the history of this salient region and offer a model.
Max ERC Funding
2 446 819 €
Duration
Start date: 2016-01-01, End date: 2020-12-31
Project acronym NewEat
Project Transdiagnostic views on eating disorders and obesity and new approaches for treatment
Researcher (PI) Jens Blechert
Host Institution (HI) PARIS-LODRON-UNIVERSITAT SALZBURG
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2014-STG
Summary Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and overweight/obesity are highly prevalent in the EU and worldwide. They cause tremendous suffering, elevate suicide rates, and account for multiple organic effects that increase all-cause mortality. Etiological and maintenance factors are not well understood and transdiagnostic theoretical models across eating and weight disorders are largely missing. The present project aims to develop an integrated theoretical framework by studying psychological factors that contribute to non-homeostatic eating across the full spectrum of eating-related disorders. It is proposed that high levels on psychological traits such as restraint eating (i.e., chronic dieting behaviour), emotional eating (i.e., eating in response to negative emotional events rather than hunger), craving/food addiction (i.e., intense and chronic urge to consume palatable foods), impulsivity (i.e., inadequate food consumption planning and low self-control), and low self-esteem influence neural systems that balance appetitive (mostly bottom-up) with regulatory (mostly top-down) processes. This model is tested in the four patient groups and healthy controls utilizing an integrated set of assessment methods, involving psychometric testing, smartphone based ambulatory assessment, and neurocognitive laboratory measurement. Derived from this model, novel behavioural interventions such as smartphone based stimulus control and cognitive inhibition training will be developed.
Results will have implications for theoretical models of eating and weight disorders as well as for neuroaffective models of appetite regulation. Smartphone technology might usefully complement current interventions in supporting an effective transfer to daily life and help alleviate the burden for patients with eating-related mental and physical diseases.
Summary
Eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and overweight/obesity are highly prevalent in the EU and worldwide. They cause tremendous suffering, elevate suicide rates, and account for multiple organic effects that increase all-cause mortality. Etiological and maintenance factors are not well understood and transdiagnostic theoretical models across eating and weight disorders are largely missing. The present project aims to develop an integrated theoretical framework by studying psychological factors that contribute to non-homeostatic eating across the full spectrum of eating-related disorders. It is proposed that high levels on psychological traits such as restraint eating (i.e., chronic dieting behaviour), emotional eating (i.e., eating in response to negative emotional events rather than hunger), craving/food addiction (i.e., intense and chronic urge to consume palatable foods), impulsivity (i.e., inadequate food consumption planning and low self-control), and low self-esteem influence neural systems that balance appetitive (mostly bottom-up) with regulatory (mostly top-down) processes. This model is tested in the four patient groups and healthy controls utilizing an integrated set of assessment methods, involving psychometric testing, smartphone based ambulatory assessment, and neurocognitive laboratory measurement. Derived from this model, novel behavioural interventions such as smartphone based stimulus control and cognitive inhibition training will be developed.
Results will have implications for theoretical models of eating and weight disorders as well as for neuroaffective models of appetite regulation. Smartphone technology might usefully complement current interventions in supporting an effective transfer to daily life and help alleviate the burden for patients with eating-related mental and physical diseases.
Max ERC Funding
1 327 016 €
Duration
Start date: 2015-07-01, End date: 2020-06-30
