Research
in Renaissance Philosophy
The Renaissance philosophy section of the De Wulf–Mansion Centre brings together scholars focusing on various aspects of Renaissance and Early Modern thought (ca. 1450–1700). Members of this unit also provide graduate and post-graduate training in Renaissance and Early Modern philosophy and contribute to the MA program in Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
Current research partly concentrates on thinkers living and working in the Low Countries, such as Adrian of Utrecht (1459–1523), Maarten van Dorp (1485–1525), Juan Luis Vives (1492–1540) and Florence Conry (1560–1629). Special attention is hereby devoted to reforms of the scholastic method and to the study and teaching of moral philosophy and logic at the old University of Leuven.
Another research focus is the distribution of ideas, charted through a study of the editions, translations and commentaries of ancient, medieval and contemporary philosophical texts during the Renaissance and Early Modern Period.
Current graduate research focuses on the role of imagination in the origin of evil in Jacob Boehme’s philosophy, the reception of Proclus’ philosophy of mathematics and concept of productive imagination in the Early Modern Period, and Pietro Pomponazzi’s De incantationibus.
