Project acronym 19TH-CENTURY_EUCLID
Project Nineteenth-Century Euclid: Geometry and the Literary Imagination from Wordsworth to Wells
Researcher (PI) Alice Jenkins
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This radically interdisciplinary project aims to bring a substantially new field of research – literature and mathematics studies – to prominence as a tool for investigating the culture of nineteenth-century Britain. It will result in three kinds of outcome: a monograph, two interdisciplinary and international colloquia, and a collection of essays. The project focuses on Euclidean geometry as a key element of nineteenth-century literary and scientific culture, showing that it was part of the shared knowledge flowing through elite and popular Romantic and Victorian writing, and figuring notably in the work of very many of the century’s best-known writers. Despite its traditional cultural prestige and educational centrality, geometry has been almost wholly neglected by literary history. This project shows how literature and mathematics studies can draw a new map of nineteenth-century British culture, revitalising our understanding of the Romantic and Victorian imagination through its writing about geometry.
Summary
This radically interdisciplinary project aims to bring a substantially new field of research – literature and mathematics studies – to prominence as a tool for investigating the culture of nineteenth-century Britain. It will result in three kinds of outcome: a monograph, two interdisciplinary and international colloquia, and a collection of essays. The project focuses on Euclidean geometry as a key element of nineteenth-century literary and scientific culture, showing that it was part of the shared knowledge flowing through elite and popular Romantic and Victorian writing, and figuring notably in the work of very many of the century’s best-known writers. Despite its traditional cultural prestige and educational centrality, geometry has been almost wholly neglected by literary history. This project shows how literature and mathematics studies can draw a new map of nineteenth-century British culture, revitalising our understanding of the Romantic and Victorian imagination through its writing about geometry.
Max ERC Funding
323 118 €
Duration
Start date: 2009-01-01, End date: 2011-10-31
Project acronym AFDMATS
Project Anton Francesco Doni – Multimedia Archive Texts and Sources
Researcher (PI) Giovanna Rizzarelli
Host Institution (HI) SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This project aims at creating a multimedia archive of the printed works of Anton Francesco Doni, who was not only an author but also a typographer, a publisher and a member of the Giolito and Marcolini’s editorial staff. The analysis of Doni’s work may be a good way to investigate appropriation, text rewriting and image reusing practices which are typical of several authors of the 16th Century, as clearly shown by the critics in the last decades. This project intends to bring to light the wide range of impulses from which Doni’s texts are generated, with a great emphasis on the figurative aspect. The encoding of these texts will be carried out using the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) guidelines, which will enable any single text to interact with a range of intertextual references both at a local level (inside the same text) and at a macrostructural level (references to other texts by Doni or to other authors). The elements that will emerge from the textual encoding concern: A) The use of images Real images: the complex relation between Doni’s writing and the xylographies available in Marcolini’s printing-house or belonging to other collections. Mental images: the remarkable presence of verbal images, as descriptions, ekphràseis, figurative visions, dreams and iconographic allusions not accompanied by illustrations, but related to a recognizable visual repertoire or to real images that will be reproduced. B) The use of sources A parallel archive of the texts most used by Doni will be created. Digital anastatic reproductions of the 16th-Century editions known by Doni will be provided whenever available. The various forms of intertextuality will be divided into the following typologies: allusions; citations; rewritings; plagiarisms; self-quotations. Finally, the different forms of narrative (tales, short stories, anecdotes, lyrics) and the different idiomatic expressions (proverbial forms and wellerisms) will also be encoded.
Summary
This project aims at creating a multimedia archive of the printed works of Anton Francesco Doni, who was not only an author but also a typographer, a publisher and a member of the Giolito and Marcolini’s editorial staff. The analysis of Doni’s work may be a good way to investigate appropriation, text rewriting and image reusing practices which are typical of several authors of the 16th Century, as clearly shown by the critics in the last decades. This project intends to bring to light the wide range of impulses from which Doni’s texts are generated, with a great emphasis on the figurative aspect. The encoding of these texts will be carried out using the TEI (Text Encoding Initiative) guidelines, which will enable any single text to interact with a range of intertextual references both at a local level (inside the same text) and at a macrostructural level (references to other texts by Doni or to other authors). The elements that will emerge from the textual encoding concern: A) The use of images Real images: the complex relation between Doni’s writing and the xylographies available in Marcolini’s printing-house or belonging to other collections. Mental images: the remarkable presence of verbal images, as descriptions, ekphràseis, figurative visions, dreams and iconographic allusions not accompanied by illustrations, but related to a recognizable visual repertoire or to real images that will be reproduced. B) The use of sources A parallel archive of the texts most used by Doni will be created. Digital anastatic reproductions of the 16th-Century editions known by Doni will be provided whenever available. The various forms of intertextuality will be divided into the following typologies: allusions; citations; rewritings; plagiarisms; self-quotations. Finally, the different forms of narrative (tales, short stories, anecdotes, lyrics) and the different idiomatic expressions (proverbial forms and wellerisms) will also be encoded.
Max ERC Funding
559 200 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-08-01, End date: 2012-07-31
Project acronym BLENDS
Project Between Direct and Indirect Discourse: Shifting Perspective in Blended Discourse
Researcher (PI) Emar Maier
Host Institution (HI) RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary A fundamental feature of language is that it allows us to reproduce what others have said. It is traditionally assumed that there
are two ways of doing this: direct discourse, where you preserve the original speech act verbatim, and indirect discourse,
where you paraphrase it in your own words. In accordance with this dichotomy, linguists have posited a number of universal
characteristics to distinguish the two modes. At the same time, we are seeing more and more examples that seem to fall
somewhere in between. I reject the direct indirect distinction and replace it with a new paradigm of blended discourse.
Combining insights from philosophy and linguistics, my framework has only one kind of speech reporting, in which a speaker
always attempts to convey the content of the reported words from her own perspective, but can quote certain parts verbatim,
thereby effectively switching to the reported perspective.
To explain why some languages are shiftier than others, I hypothesize that a greater distance from face-to-face
communication, with the possibility of extra- and paralinguistic perspective marking, necessitated the introduction of
an artificial direct indirect separation. I test this hypothesis by investigating languages that are closely tied to direct
communication: Dutch child language, as recent studies hint at a very late acquisition of the direct indirect distinction; Dutch
Sign Language, which has a special role shift marker that bears a striking resemblance to the quotational shift of blended
discourse; and Ancient Greek, where philologists have long been observing perspective shifts.
In sum, my research combines a new philosophical insight on the nature of reported speech with formal semantic rigor and
linguistic data from child language experiments, native signers, and Greek philology.
Summary
A fundamental feature of language is that it allows us to reproduce what others have said. It is traditionally assumed that there
are two ways of doing this: direct discourse, where you preserve the original speech act verbatim, and indirect discourse,
where you paraphrase it in your own words. In accordance with this dichotomy, linguists have posited a number of universal
characteristics to distinguish the two modes. At the same time, we are seeing more and more examples that seem to fall
somewhere in between. I reject the direct indirect distinction and replace it with a new paradigm of blended discourse.
Combining insights from philosophy and linguistics, my framework has only one kind of speech reporting, in which a speaker
always attempts to convey the content of the reported words from her own perspective, but can quote certain parts verbatim,
thereby effectively switching to the reported perspective.
To explain why some languages are shiftier than others, I hypothesize that a greater distance from face-to-face
communication, with the possibility of extra- and paralinguistic perspective marking, necessitated the introduction of
an artificial direct indirect separation. I test this hypothesis by investigating languages that are closely tied to direct
communication: Dutch child language, as recent studies hint at a very late acquisition of the direct indirect distinction; Dutch
Sign Language, which has a special role shift marker that bears a striking resemblance to the quotational shift of blended
discourse; and Ancient Greek, where philologists have long been observing perspective shifts.
In sum, my research combines a new philosophical insight on the nature of reported speech with formal semantic rigor and
linguistic data from child language experiments, native signers, and Greek philology.
Max ERC Funding
677 254 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-03-01, End date: 2016-08-31
Project acronym BRAINBALANCE
Project Rebalancing the brain:
Guiding brain recovery after stroke
Researcher (PI) Alexander Thomas Sack
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary Damage to parietal cortex after stroke causes patients to become unaware of large parts of their surroundings and body parts. This so-called spatial neglect is hypothesised to be brought about by a stroke-induced imbalance between the left and right hemisphere. Some patients experience a partial recovery of lost abilities, but the factors that drive this rebalancing are unknown. The research proposed here will overcome this bottleneck in our understanding of the brain recovery phenomenon, and develop therapeutic approaches that for the first time will control, steer and speed up brain rebalancing after stroke. To that goal, we introduce a revolutionary approach in which TMS, fMRI, and EEG are applied simultaneously in healthy human volunteers to artificially unbalance the brain, and then study and control processes of rebalancing. Because we are one of the few groups worldwide that has accomplished this methodology, and that has the expertise to fully analyse the data it will yield, we are in a unique position to deliver both fundamental insights into brain plasticity, and derived new therapies. In brief, we will use TMS to (i) mimic spatial neglect in healthy volunteers while simultaneously monitoring the underlying neural network effects using fMRI/EEG, and to (ii) determine which exact brain reorganisation leads to an optimal behavioral recovery after injury. Importantly, we will use cutting-edge fMRI pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms to predict which concrete TMS treatment will specifically support this optimal functional reorganisation in the unbalanced brain. Finally, we will directly translate these fundamental findings into clinical practise and apply novel TMS protocols to rebalance the brain in patients suffering from parietal stroke.
Summary
Damage to parietal cortex after stroke causes patients to become unaware of large parts of their surroundings and body parts. This so-called spatial neglect is hypothesised to be brought about by a stroke-induced imbalance between the left and right hemisphere. Some patients experience a partial recovery of lost abilities, but the factors that drive this rebalancing are unknown. The research proposed here will overcome this bottleneck in our understanding of the brain recovery phenomenon, and develop therapeutic approaches that for the first time will control, steer and speed up brain rebalancing after stroke. To that goal, we introduce a revolutionary approach in which TMS, fMRI, and EEG are applied simultaneously in healthy human volunteers to artificially unbalance the brain, and then study and control processes of rebalancing. Because we are one of the few groups worldwide that has accomplished this methodology, and that has the expertise to fully analyse the data it will yield, we are in a unique position to deliver both fundamental insights into brain plasticity, and derived new therapies. In brief, we will use TMS to (i) mimic spatial neglect in healthy volunteers while simultaneously monitoring the underlying neural network effects using fMRI/EEG, and to (ii) determine which exact brain reorganisation leads to an optimal behavioral recovery after injury. Importantly, we will use cutting-edge fMRI pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms to predict which concrete TMS treatment will specifically support this optimal functional reorganisation in the unbalanced brain. Finally, we will directly translate these fundamental findings into clinical practise and apply novel TMS protocols to rebalance the brain in patients suffering from parietal stroke.
Max ERC Funding
1 344 853 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
Project acronym BRAINDEVELOPMENT
Project How brain development underlies advances in cognition and emotion in childhood and adolescence
Researcher (PI) Eveline Adriana Maria Crone
Host Institution (HI) UNIVERSITEIT LEIDEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary Thanks to the recent advances in mapping brain activation during task performance using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (i.e., studying the brain in action), it is now possible to study one of the oldest questions in psychology: how the development of neural circuitry underlies the development of cognition and emotion. The ‘Storm and Stress’ of adolescence, a period during which adolescents develop cognitively with great speed but are also risk-takers and sensitive to opinions of their peer group, has puzzled scientists for centuries. New technologies of brain mapping have the potential to shed new light on the mystery of adolescence. The approach proposed here concerns the investigation of brain regions which underlie developmental changes in cognitive, emotional and social-emotional functions over the course of child and adolescent development.
For this purpose I will measure functional brain development longitudinally across the age range 8-20 years by using a combined cross-sectional longitudinal design including 240 participants. Participants will take part in two testing sessions over a four-year-period in order to track the within-subject time courses of functional brain development for cognitive, emotional and social-emotional functions and to understand how these functions develop relative to each other in the same individuals, using multilevel models for change. The cross-sectional longitudinal assessment of cognitive, emotional and social-emotional functional brain development in relation to brain structure and hormone levels is unique in the international field and has the potential to provide new explanations for old questions. The application of brain mapping combined with multilevel models for change is original, and allows for the examination of developmental trajectories rather than age comparisons. An integrative mapping (i.e., combined with task performance and with biological markers) of functional brain development is important not only for theory development, but also for understanding how children learn new tasks and participate in a complex social world, and eventually to tailor educational programs to the needs of children.
Summary
Thanks to the recent advances in mapping brain activation during task performance using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (i.e., studying the brain in action), it is now possible to study one of the oldest questions in psychology: how the development of neural circuitry underlies the development of cognition and emotion. The ‘Storm and Stress’ of adolescence, a period during which adolescents develop cognitively with great speed but are also risk-takers and sensitive to opinions of their peer group, has puzzled scientists for centuries. New technologies of brain mapping have the potential to shed new light on the mystery of adolescence. The approach proposed here concerns the investigation of brain regions which underlie developmental changes in cognitive, emotional and social-emotional functions over the course of child and adolescent development.
For this purpose I will measure functional brain development longitudinally across the age range 8-20 years by using a combined cross-sectional longitudinal design including 240 participants. Participants will take part in two testing sessions over a four-year-period in order to track the within-subject time courses of functional brain development for cognitive, emotional and social-emotional functions and to understand how these functions develop relative to each other in the same individuals, using multilevel models for change. The cross-sectional longitudinal assessment of cognitive, emotional and social-emotional functional brain development in relation to brain structure and hormone levels is unique in the international field and has the potential to provide new explanations for old questions. The application of brain mapping combined with multilevel models for change is original, and allows for the examination of developmental trajectories rather than age comparisons. An integrative mapping (i.e., combined with task performance and with biological markers) of functional brain development is important not only for theory development, but also for understanding how children learn new tasks and participate in a complex social world, and eventually to tailor educational programs to the needs of children.
Max ERC Funding
1 500 000 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-02-01, End date: 2016-01-31
Project acronym CAJS
Project The Christian Appropriation of the Jewish Scriptures: Allegory, Pauline Exegesis, and the Negotiation of Religious Identities
Researcher (PI) Hagit Amirav
Host Institution (HI) STICHTING VU
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary This project focuses on the appropriation of the Old Testament by early Christian interpreters of the Bible. A historical approach, not commonly adopted in the study of biblical interpretation, will enable us to study how this process contributed to the formation of distinctive Christian identities within the multicultural society of the late Roman principate and early Byzantine rule. The exegetes of this period were to a great extent responsible for the creation of a distinctive, sophisticated, and uncompromising discourse—a ‘totalising Christian discourse’, which determines Christian identities up to this day. In two projects, carried out by three researchers, we will make cross sections of the relevant material. It was allegorizing interpretation that enabled exegetes belonging to the so-called School of Alexandria to recognize Christ everywhere in the Old Testament, and thus to appropriate it and make it useful to the Church. Thus the Song of Songs was no longer considered an earthly love song, but was said to describe Christ’s love for the Church. Exegetes associated with the School of Antioch opposed to this kind of approach. They are often described as literalists. The traditional understanding of the distinctions between the two schools needs to be broadened and corrected by a picture of the actual practice of their hermeneutics. In my view the Antiochene opposition was brought about by the fact that pagan and ‘heretic’ critics did not accept the Alexandrian use of allegory. My innovative hypothesis is related to the central role played by the letters of the apostle Paul in the Antiochene reaction against Alexandria. For the Antiochenes, the use of Paul became an alternative means to bridge the gap between the two Testaments. Instead of a book in which every jot and tittle referred to Christ through allegory, the Antiochenes came to view the Old Testament as an amalgamation of moral lessons that agreed with Paul's teaching.
Summary
This project focuses on the appropriation of the Old Testament by early Christian interpreters of the Bible. A historical approach, not commonly adopted in the study of biblical interpretation, will enable us to study how this process contributed to the formation of distinctive Christian identities within the multicultural society of the late Roman principate and early Byzantine rule. The exegetes of this period were to a great extent responsible for the creation of a distinctive, sophisticated, and uncompromising discourse—a ‘totalising Christian discourse’, which determines Christian identities up to this day. In two projects, carried out by three researchers, we will make cross sections of the relevant material. It was allegorizing interpretation that enabled exegetes belonging to the so-called School of Alexandria to recognize Christ everywhere in the Old Testament, and thus to appropriate it and make it useful to the Church. Thus the Song of Songs was no longer considered an earthly love song, but was said to describe Christ’s love for the Church. Exegetes associated with the School of Antioch opposed to this kind of approach. They are often described as literalists. The traditional understanding of the distinctions between the two schools needs to be broadened and corrected by a picture of the actual practice of their hermeneutics. In my view the Antiochene opposition was brought about by the fact that pagan and ‘heretic’ critics did not accept the Alexandrian use of allegory. My innovative hypothesis is related to the central role played by the letters of the apostle Paul in the Antiochene reaction against Alexandria. For the Antiochenes, the use of Paul became an alternative means to bridge the gap between the two Testaments. Instead of a book in which every jot and tittle referred to Christ through allegory, the Antiochenes came to view the Old Testament as an amalgamation of moral lessons that agreed with Paul's teaching.
Max ERC Funding
655 309 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-09-01, End date: 2013-12-31
Project acronym DYNAMIND
Project A Dynamic View on Conscious and Unconscious Processes
Researcher (PI) Sid Kouider-Elouahed
Host Institution (HI) ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary "Distinguishing between conscious and unconscious processes is a fundamental issue for our understanding of the human mind. Most research on this topic has been limited to a static perspective, by studying static stimuli, by considering processing as a function of present information, and by focusing on a single, adult stage of development. Yet, both conscious and unconscious mental processes are intrinsically driven by dynamic properties. We will study these properties by relying on behavioral and brain imaging methods along three tracks:
1) Unconscious perception: Our visual system is, in real life, constantly receiving unconscious sequences of information that will generate dynamic and constantly updated processing streams. We will study these dynamic unconscious streams, thanks to Gaze-Contingent Substitution, a novel approach allowing for the presentation of subliminal videos and sequences of stimuli.
2) Conscious perception: Construction of a conscious percept does not only depend on present stimulation but also on interactions with prior knowledge. Relying on the Bayesian framework, we will study the mechanisms by which prior knowledge leads to the reconstruction of perceptual contents, by ""filling-in"" missing information during situations of partial awareness.
3) The maturation of consciousness: Using both psychophysical measures of visibility thresholds and high-density EEG, we will study the neural distinction between conscious and unconscious processes in pre-verbal infants, and whether consciousness develops through the maturation of posterior brain regions encoding sensory information, or rather anterior prefrontal regions related to attention and executive control.
The expected impact of the project will be 1) to evidence sequential and complex forms of subliminal influences 2) to specify the cognitive mechanisms leading to perceptual illusions 3) to provide new insights on the mystery of how consciousness develops in humans."
Summary
"Distinguishing between conscious and unconscious processes is a fundamental issue for our understanding of the human mind. Most research on this topic has been limited to a static perspective, by studying static stimuli, by considering processing as a function of present information, and by focusing on a single, adult stage of development. Yet, both conscious and unconscious mental processes are intrinsically driven by dynamic properties. We will study these properties by relying on behavioral and brain imaging methods along three tracks:
1) Unconscious perception: Our visual system is, in real life, constantly receiving unconscious sequences of information that will generate dynamic and constantly updated processing streams. We will study these dynamic unconscious streams, thanks to Gaze-Contingent Substitution, a novel approach allowing for the presentation of subliminal videos and sequences of stimuli.
2) Conscious perception: Construction of a conscious percept does not only depend on present stimulation but also on interactions with prior knowledge. Relying on the Bayesian framework, we will study the mechanisms by which prior knowledge leads to the reconstruction of perceptual contents, by ""filling-in"" missing information during situations of partial awareness.
3) The maturation of consciousness: Using both psychophysical measures of visibility thresholds and high-density EEG, we will study the neural distinction between conscious and unconscious processes in pre-verbal infants, and whether consciousness develops through the maturation of posterior brain regions encoding sensory information, or rather anterior prefrontal regions related to attention and executive control.
The expected impact of the project will be 1) to evidence sequential and complex forms of subliminal influences 2) to specify the cognitive mechanisms leading to perceptual illusions 3) to provide new insights on the mystery of how consciousness develops in humans."
Max ERC Funding
1 437 520 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-02-01, End date: 2016-01-31
Project acronym EARLYPOWERONTOLOGIES
Project Causal Structuralist Ontologies in Antiquity: Powers as the basic building block of the worlds of the ancients
Researcher (PI) Anna Marmodoro
Host Institution (HI) THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2010-StG_20091209
Summary The project aims to bring about a paradigm shift in our understanding of how the ancients conceived of the universe and its contents over a period of 9 centuries, 600 BC to 300 AD. The driving research hypothesis is that the sole elementary building blocks of nearly all ancient ontologies are powers, from which all there is in the universe is built. Powers are relational properties which are directed towards an end (e.g. the power to heat); thus a world of powers is structured in a web of causal relations. What is revolutionary about such a world is that there is only structure in it; hence, causal structuralist ontologies underlie object-metaphysics or process-metaphysics, and worlds of being and becoming, supplying structures from which objects and processes are derived. Yet such ontologies have never been investigated about ancient thought.
The project’s topic is new: ancient causal structuralism; the speciality is novel too, requiring targeted training of a team of post-doc researchers which will be provided by the applicant and collaborators. The innovativeness of the methodology consists in training ancient philosophy researchers to discern and identify formal aspects of ontologies at the very roots of human rationality – discerning how the ancients built everything out of power structures.
The paradigm shift will generate new knowledge and understanding about the ancient accounts of the world; provide a heuristic vantage point for redrafting the map of the intellectual influences between ancient thinkers; stimulate fruitful debate; and inspire new insights into ancient thought that are literally unthinkable at present. Cognate disciplines that will be affected by the paradigm shift are such as: history of physics; of mathematics; of theology; ancient anthropology.
Summary
The project aims to bring about a paradigm shift in our understanding of how the ancients conceived of the universe and its contents over a period of 9 centuries, 600 BC to 300 AD. The driving research hypothesis is that the sole elementary building blocks of nearly all ancient ontologies are powers, from which all there is in the universe is built. Powers are relational properties which are directed towards an end (e.g. the power to heat); thus a world of powers is structured in a web of causal relations. What is revolutionary about such a world is that there is only structure in it; hence, causal structuralist ontologies underlie object-metaphysics or process-metaphysics, and worlds of being and becoming, supplying structures from which objects and processes are derived. Yet such ontologies have never been investigated about ancient thought.
The project’s topic is new: ancient causal structuralism; the speciality is novel too, requiring targeted training of a team of post-doc researchers which will be provided by the applicant and collaborators. The innovativeness of the methodology consists in training ancient philosophy researchers to discern and identify formal aspects of ontologies at the very roots of human rationality – discerning how the ancients built everything out of power structures.
The paradigm shift will generate new knowledge and understanding about the ancient accounts of the world; provide a heuristic vantage point for redrafting the map of the intellectual influences between ancient thinkers; stimulate fruitful debate; and inspire new insights into ancient thought that are literally unthinkable at present. Cognate disciplines that will be affected by the paradigm shift are such as: history of physics; of mathematics; of theology; ancient anthropology.
Max ERC Funding
1 228 581 €
Duration
Start date: 2011-04-01, End date: 2016-03-31
Project acronym HFPSL
Project HISTORY OF THE FRENCH POLITICAL SCIENCE LEXICON
Researcher (PI) Olivier Bertrand
Host Institution (HI) CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary The scientific research project submitted to the ERC intends to examine the creation of the French political science lexicon from a linguistic point of view. Most of the Political science vocabulary that the French language uses today comes from the translations from Latin and Greek into French during the 14th and 15th centuries. Historians and philosophers have noticed that the 14th century is an essential period for neologisms in the political science field. But no scientific research has been yet conducted to prove it, especially because of the lack of modern editions of the texts. The scientific project submitted to the ERC can be developed in three parts during the next 5 academic years: 1/ an edition of a major political science masterpiece in Middle French from the 14th century that has never been published before (years 1 to 5) : The City of God written by Augustine and translated by Raoul de Presles. The modern edition of the first translation of the City of God will allow researchers to have an easy access to primary sources in order to lead new research in linguistics, history, political sciences, and more generally in Humanities. 2/ a publication of a scientific monograph on the French political science lexicon (year 4). Indeed, such a scientific monograph will give a panoramic overview of the French Political Science Lexicon and will allow researchers to better understand the history of French concepts in Humanities. 3/ a publication of a Dictionary of Political Science (year 5). Finally, a dictionary in historical political science will facilitate our knowledge of the evolution of words in that particular field, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.
Summary
The scientific research project submitted to the ERC intends to examine the creation of the French political science lexicon from a linguistic point of view. Most of the Political science vocabulary that the French language uses today comes from the translations from Latin and Greek into French during the 14th and 15th centuries. Historians and philosophers have noticed that the 14th century is an essential period for neologisms in the political science field. But no scientific research has been yet conducted to prove it, especially because of the lack of modern editions of the texts. The scientific project submitted to the ERC can be developed in three parts during the next 5 academic years: 1/ an edition of a major political science masterpiece in Middle French from the 14th century that has never been published before (years 1 to 5) : The City of God written by Augustine and translated by Raoul de Presles. The modern edition of the first translation of the City of God will allow researchers to have an easy access to primary sources in order to lead new research in linguistics, history, political sciences, and more generally in Humanities. 2/ a publication of a scientific monograph on the French political science lexicon (year 4). Indeed, such a scientific monograph will give a panoramic overview of the French Political Science Lexicon and will allow researchers to better understand the history of French concepts in Humanities. 3/ a publication of a Dictionary of Political Science (year 5). Finally, a dictionary in historical political science will facilitate our knowledge of the evolution of words in that particular field, from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.
Max ERC Funding
600 945 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2013-09-30
Project acronym HOLY AND LAY
Project Holy Writ & Lay Readers. A Social History of Vernacular Bible Translations in the Middle Ages
Researcher (PI) Sabrina Corbellini
Host Institution (HI) RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
Call Details Starting Grant (StG), SH4, ERC-2007-StG
Summary The European Late Middle Ages, before the Reformation in the 16th century, were witness to a cultural revolution. The ‘traditional’ dichotomy between the categories ‘religious’ and ‘lay’ and ‘Latin’ and ‘vernacular’ dissolved into a more diffuse situation and led to ‘lay emancipation’ characterised by a dramatic increase in the production of vernacular religious texts and, more specifically, by the production and distribution of vernacular Bibles. However, the diffusion of Bible translations across Europe was not homogeneous. Some regions enjoyed several vernacular translations, counting on lenience and even incentives from religious and worldly authorities, while in other translation activities, production and distribution were at some point strictly forbidden. This disparity and the patchwork distribution of vernacular Bibles raise questions about the conditions of this late medieval cultural revolution, a key to the understanding of the transition from the medieval to modern world. What were the ‘cultural dynamics’ behind this revolution? Who were the agents of this transformation process? How can the tension be analysed between the desire of the Church to control the distribution of translations and the hunger for direct access to biblical texts by generally literate lay people? The main objective of Holy Writ & Lay Readers is to map out this late medieval cultural revolution by concentrating on one of its most relevant manifestations and to reconstruct its social context by using an experimental research method which combines extensive codicological and bibliographical textual research with a socio-historical approach. The central question will be addressed by focusing on the interaction of social and cultural elements, such as a high degree of urbanisation and susceptibility to the influence of religious movements which, as preliminary research has shown, were strictly connected to the diffusion of religious vernacular texts.
Summary
The European Late Middle Ages, before the Reformation in the 16th century, were witness to a cultural revolution. The ‘traditional’ dichotomy between the categories ‘religious’ and ‘lay’ and ‘Latin’ and ‘vernacular’ dissolved into a more diffuse situation and led to ‘lay emancipation’ characterised by a dramatic increase in the production of vernacular religious texts and, more specifically, by the production and distribution of vernacular Bibles. However, the diffusion of Bible translations across Europe was not homogeneous. Some regions enjoyed several vernacular translations, counting on lenience and even incentives from religious and worldly authorities, while in other translation activities, production and distribution were at some point strictly forbidden. This disparity and the patchwork distribution of vernacular Bibles raise questions about the conditions of this late medieval cultural revolution, a key to the understanding of the transition from the medieval to modern world. What were the ‘cultural dynamics’ behind this revolution? Who were the agents of this transformation process? How can the tension be analysed between the desire of the Church to control the distribution of translations and the hunger for direct access to biblical texts by generally literate lay people? The main objective of Holy Writ & Lay Readers is to map out this late medieval cultural revolution by concentrating on one of its most relevant manifestations and to reconstruct its social context by using an experimental research method which combines extensive codicological and bibliographical textual research with a socio-historical approach. The central question will be addressed by focusing on the interaction of social and cultural elements, such as a high degree of urbanisation and susceptibility to the influence of religious movements which, as preliminary research has shown, were strictly connected to the diffusion of religious vernacular texts.
Max ERC Funding
683 688 €
Duration
Start date: 2008-10-01, End date: 2012-09-30
