History
of the De Wulf–Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy
In 1956, four professors of the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Louvain – F. Van Steenberghen, M. Giele, H.L. van Breda, and G. Verbeke – founded the “De Wulf–Mansion Centre”, a research centre devoted to ancient and medieval philosophy. The idea was to gather together in one place the books and the tools of the trade necessary for the study of the history of philosophy in these two periods, the links between these two areas of study being so close that this type of proximity would be mutually beneficial. The centre took its name from Maurice De Wulf (1867–1947), one of the pioneers of the historiography of medieval philosophy, and Augustin Mansion (1882–1966), an outstanding scholar of Aristotelianism.
In 1969, at the time of the division of the University, two centres were born, each to continue at its own university the mission entrusted by the founders: the “De Wulf–Mansioncentrum” at Leuven and the “Centre De Wulf–Mansion” at Louvain–la–Neuve. These two centers retain their tight bonds of collaboration.
Since 1973 the De Wulf–Mansion Centre of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven has been the home of the Aristoteles Latinus, the international project to edit the medieval Latin translations of Aristotle’s works, supported by the Union Académique Internationale. From 2003 to 2008, the Centre has played host to the Secretariat of the Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM).
In addition to its initial focus on Ancient and Medieval philosophy, the Centre’s scope recently expanded to include the rich and growing field of Renaissance philosophy (including late scholasticism).
