Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HEPMASITE (Hebrew Philosophical Manuscripts as Sites of Engagement)
Reporting period: 2022-10-01 to 2025-03-31
HEPMASITE tackles the corpus of medieval Hebrew philosophical manuscripts to unravel the hidden history of Jewish philosophy enveloped within them. It aims to reconceptualize the understanding of Jewish philosophy as it took place in the real world and studied by actual people.
HEPMASITE intends to fill the gap between two extremes: On the one hand, Hebrew manuscripts are well-documented, and in recent years, thanks to massive digitization projects, are accessible as never before. This opens opportunities for research that were until now nearly impossible. On the other hand, Hebrew manuscripts are largely private (rather than institutionalized) endeavours that display considerable individuality, idiosyncrasy, and facing the unknown. They exhibit exceptionally high levels of anonymity, they are extremely diverse, and contain lots of annotations, comments, glosses, and so forth.
This complex and state of events causes many problems, but is also a huge opportunity for studying philosophy as it was practiced in the real world. Retaining the particularity of Hebrew manuscripts also retains an essential component of the Hebrew philosophical narrative. With many players unknown, the individual copy becomes our main entry point to its history. Hence, rather than treating manuscripts as containers of text, HEPMASITE research always stays on the manuscript level.
HEPMASITE operates according to three theoretical premises, each with its own method.
1. Philosophical manuscripts are philosophical things that should be studied as individuals.
2. In the Hebrew tradition, copying a work is not distinct from the act of philosophizing. If we study all manuscripts of a certain work together, we can come up with its story. The project refers to this as “narrative philology.”
3. A hidden history can be unearthed by analysing what happens between the lines and in the margins.
HEPMASITE intends to fill the gap between two extremes: On the one hand, Hebrew manuscripts are well-documented, and in recent years, thanks to massive digitization projects, are accessible as never before. This opens opportunities for research that were until now nearly impossible. On the other hand, Hebrew manuscripts are largely private (rather than institutionalized) endeavours that display considerable individuality, idiosyncrasy, and facing the unknown. They exhibit exceptionally high levels of anonymity, they are extremely diverse, and contain lots of annotations, comments, glosses, and so forth.
This complex and state of events causes many problems, but is also a huge opportunity for studying philosophy as it was practiced in the real world. Retaining the particularity of Hebrew manuscripts also retains an essential component of the Hebrew philosophical narrative. With many players unknown, the individual copy becomes our main entry point to its history. Hence, rather than treating manuscripts as containers of text, HEPMASITE research always stays on the manuscript level.
HEPMASITE operates according to three theoretical premises, each with its own method.
1. Philosophical manuscripts are philosophical things that should be studied as individuals.
2. In the Hebrew tradition, copying a work is not distinct from the act of philosophizing. If we study all manuscripts of a certain work together, we can come up with its story. The project refers to this as “narrative philology.”
3. A hidden history can be unearthed by analysing what happens between the lines and in the margins.
The PI’s research project about “the making of a philosophical textbook” [WP2] is progressing satisfactorily and a complete manuscript draft should be ready in Summer 2025. Several aspects of this project were presented in the following workshops: “Hebrew Philosophical Manuscripts (on Logic) as Sites of Engagement.” Workshop Medieval Manuscripts of Logic. Hamburg, May 2023; (with Michael Engel), “The Textual Tradition of Averroes’s Metaphysics Epitome on the Arabic-Hebrew-Latin Continuum.” Jacob Mantino: Translator, Physician and First Jewish Teacher at Sapienza. Rome, May 2023; “The ‘In-Betweens’: Supplementary Materials in Hebrew Manuscripts of Averroes’s Epitomes.” New Perspectives on Averroes. Cologne, September 2023; “Presence, Absence, and the Presence of Absence: Geometrical Diagrams in the Manuscript Tradition of the Hebrew Translation of Averroes’s Meteorology Epitome.” Workshop Medieval Manuscripts of Natural Philosophy. Hamburg, May 2024.
Other side projects, connected to WP1 (case studies), were presented in the following workshops: “A Philosopher Hiding in the Margins.” 12th EAJS Congress, Frankfurt, July 2023; “A Hebrew scribe’s note about infinite power and eternal motion.” Truth & Time in the Middle Ages, Cambridge, March 2023. One finding has been published, and others will be published in the second half of 2025. Interesting short texts, when possible, are published in the Mahadurot.com website.
Lucas Oro Hershtein joined in November 2022, working on the Hebrew tradition of al-Batalyawsi’s “Book of Imaginary circles.” The project consists of three papers: one was published, the second is under review in Aleph (it received the Wolfson award for Early career scholars papers about pre-modern Hebrew philosophy and sciences), and a third will be finished by the end of his tenure. In March 2025 he will move to Madrid for as an MCSA fellow. Lucas presented the paper “A Unique Blend: Merging Two Hebrew Versions of al-Baṭalyawsī” in the EAJS congress, Frankfurt, July 2024. He also co-organized two workshops hosted in Hamburg.
Hanna Paulmann joined as a Phd student in August 2023 with a project about Aristotelian psychology in Hebrew manuscripts. After consolidating her project, she completed a draft of her first paper and presented in internal venues of the University of Hamburg. She is halfway through her second paper.
Hanna Gentili joined the team in January 2024 with a two-part project: the first part is 2 case studies concerning practical philosophy in Hebrew manuscripts. Her second project is natural philosophy in Hebrew manuscripts and on the intersection between Hebrew and Latin and manuscript and print. She was invited to deliver the “Graduate Student Invitation Series Lecture” in the Medieval Institute in the University of Notre Dame in the US (November 2024). Hanna is also the co-convener of our lecture series “Philosophy by Hand.”
All members contribute to the project’s datasets, which are divided into three layers. The first is a critical list of the medieval philosophical Hebrew corpus, the first version of which will be made available in 2025. The second layer is a documentation/verification of metadata concerning philosophical codices, per members’ research project. This is for internal purposes, though the raw data will be made available. The final layer is a repository of marginalia (as was intended in WP3), to which our student assistant is feeding information. So far, she focused on the corpus of codices that I am using for my monograph.
We organized two workshops: Medieval manuscripts of Logic (May 2023) and of Natural Philosophy (May 2024). More workshops are planned on manuscripts of metaphysics and of practical philosophy. They explore different philosophical genres across different linguistic areas with focus on joint methodologies and finding connections. The first workshop will result in a publication in a special issue of the journal Manuscript Cultures, co-edited by the PI, Jose Maksimczuk (CSMC Hamburg) and Caterina Tarlazzi (PI of the ERC project “Polyphonic Philosophy”).
The project is hosting, in cooperation with the CSMC, the lecture series “Philosophy by Hand.” The first lecture was delivered by the PI in October 2024. Talks by leading and emerging scholars are scheduled until July 2025. It should continue throughout the project’s remaining duration. All lectures will be streamed live and then uploaded to the lecture2go system of Hamburg University.
We participated in the EAJS congress, Frankfurt (July 2023) with the panel “New Discoveries in Hebrew Philosophical Manuscripts of Metaphysics and Philosophical Theology”. It was awarded a “distinguished panel” label by the organizing committee.
Other side projects, connected to WP1 (case studies), were presented in the following workshops: “A Philosopher Hiding in the Margins.” 12th EAJS Congress, Frankfurt, July 2023; “A Hebrew scribe’s note about infinite power and eternal motion.” Truth & Time in the Middle Ages, Cambridge, March 2023. One finding has been published, and others will be published in the second half of 2025. Interesting short texts, when possible, are published in the Mahadurot.com website.
Lucas Oro Hershtein joined in November 2022, working on the Hebrew tradition of al-Batalyawsi’s “Book of Imaginary circles.” The project consists of three papers: one was published, the second is under review in Aleph (it received the Wolfson award for Early career scholars papers about pre-modern Hebrew philosophy and sciences), and a third will be finished by the end of his tenure. In March 2025 he will move to Madrid for as an MCSA fellow. Lucas presented the paper “A Unique Blend: Merging Two Hebrew Versions of al-Baṭalyawsī” in the EAJS congress, Frankfurt, July 2024. He also co-organized two workshops hosted in Hamburg.
Hanna Paulmann joined as a Phd student in August 2023 with a project about Aristotelian psychology in Hebrew manuscripts. After consolidating her project, she completed a draft of her first paper and presented in internal venues of the University of Hamburg. She is halfway through her second paper.
Hanna Gentili joined the team in January 2024 with a two-part project: the first part is 2 case studies concerning practical philosophy in Hebrew manuscripts. Her second project is natural philosophy in Hebrew manuscripts and on the intersection between Hebrew and Latin and manuscript and print. She was invited to deliver the “Graduate Student Invitation Series Lecture” in the Medieval Institute in the University of Notre Dame in the US (November 2024). Hanna is also the co-convener of our lecture series “Philosophy by Hand.”
All members contribute to the project’s datasets, which are divided into three layers. The first is a critical list of the medieval philosophical Hebrew corpus, the first version of which will be made available in 2025. The second layer is a documentation/verification of metadata concerning philosophical codices, per members’ research project. This is for internal purposes, though the raw data will be made available. The final layer is a repository of marginalia (as was intended in WP3), to which our student assistant is feeding information. So far, she focused on the corpus of codices that I am using for my monograph.
We organized two workshops: Medieval manuscripts of Logic (May 2023) and of Natural Philosophy (May 2024). More workshops are planned on manuscripts of metaphysics and of practical philosophy. They explore different philosophical genres across different linguistic areas with focus on joint methodologies and finding connections. The first workshop will result in a publication in a special issue of the journal Manuscript Cultures, co-edited by the PI, Jose Maksimczuk (CSMC Hamburg) and Caterina Tarlazzi (PI of the ERC project “Polyphonic Philosophy”).
The project is hosting, in cooperation with the CSMC, the lecture series “Philosophy by Hand.” The first lecture was delivered by the PI in October 2024. Talks by leading and emerging scholars are scheduled until July 2025. It should continue throughout the project’s remaining duration. All lectures will be streamed live and then uploaded to the lecture2go system of Hamburg University.
We participated in the EAJS congress, Frankfurt (July 2023) with the panel “New Discoveries in Hebrew Philosophical Manuscripts of Metaphysics and Philosophical Theology”. It was awarded a “distinguished panel” label by the organizing committee.
The possibility to treat philosophical manuscripts in a global sense, beyond a specific tradition, is a serious breakthrough. It allows to look at material aspects of philosophy in a general way. We are also developing theoretical frameworks for philosophical activity and the division of labour between author, translator, scribe etc. As anticipated in the proposal, this division falls apart within the manuscripts.
In Jewish studies, several new texts have been found, and we realized that Hebrew philosophical activity in the 14th and 15th is the point where it reached its maturity and professionality. Further, it seems that several annotations found in manuscripts belong to later hands (16th-19th centuries), so that these texts continued to be actively studied well after the introduction of print.
In Jewish studies, several new texts have been found, and we realized that Hebrew philosophical activity in the 14th and 15th is the point where it reached its maturity and professionality. Further, it seems that several annotations found in manuscripts belong to later hands (16th-19th centuries), so that these texts continued to be actively studied well after the introduction of print.