Renaissance Philosophy
Research focus
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), Desiderius Erasmus (1466?-1536), Maarten van Dorp (1485-1525), and Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540). Special attention is devoted to the scholastic-humanist debate and to the philosophical curriculum at the old University of Louvain.
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, Pietro Pomponazzi’s De incantationibus, and the reception of Aristotle in the work of Cornelius Jansenius and Libertus Fromondus.
Projects
