Luciano Micali | University of Helsinki (original) (raw)

Articles by Luciano Micali

A. Speer - T. Jeschke (ed.), "Consensus", De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2024 (Miscellanea Mediaevalia 43), 2024

L. Mauro (ed.), Settant'anni del Centro Studi Bonaventuriani di Bagnoregio (1953-2023): tra Passato, Presente e Futuro. Bagoregio, 26-28 Maggio 2023, Edizioni Biblioteca Francescana, Milano 2024 [Doctor Seraphicus, 69], 2024

J. Higuera Rubio (ed.), Per cognitionem visualem. The Visualization of Cognitive and Natural Processes in the Middle Ages: Acts of the XXV Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Porto, 14-15 and 21-22 June 2021, Turnhout, Brepols 2023 [Rencontres de Philosophie Médiévale, 27], 2023

Patristica et Mediaevalia 44.1, 2023

The search for unity in the doctrinal sphere, mirror and instrument of the unity of the Church, i... more The search for unity in the doctrinal sphere, mirror and instrument of the unity of the Church, is a recurring element in the work of Jean Gerson (1363-1429), renowned theologian and Chancellor of the University of Paris between the 14th and the 15th century. The insistence on the concept of unity is conveyed by a constant reflection on the role and methods of the theological writing. Gerson identifies precise methods and models to follow in order to explain some obscurities of the Scriptures with clarity and precision, and without risks for the integrity of the doctrine. A fundamental part of the reflection on theological writing is the discussion on the possibility of using vernacular, a possibility that the Parisian chancellor strongly denies, stigmatizing the linguistic confusion which inevitably would lead not only to mutual misunderstanding, but to the breakdown of a correspondence between terms and concepts that has its roots in a consolidated and centuries-old theological tradition in Latin. The present article intends to study Gerson's reflection on the language, methods and selection of models in the context of the academic theological writing, in the broader framework of the search for unity in the doctrinal sphere, a necessary element for pursuing the unity of Church tout court.

Patristica et Mediaevalia, 44.1, 2023

Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica 2021/4, pp. 113-127, 2021

The Glosa bullarum of Felix Hemmerlin in the historical and theological context of the Rhineland ... more The Glosa bullarum of Felix Hemmerlin in the historical and theological context of the Rhineland at the end of the Middle Ages This article analyzes the commentary of the Swiss canonist Felix Hemmerlin on two papal seals of Eugene IV and Gregory XII. The author criticizes the two documents because of their permissiveness towards the community of the Begardi. The canonical and theological reflection on the two papal seals is, for Hemmerlin, the occasion to discuss the spiritual and theological landscape of the Rhineland at his time. The Glosa is examined here in relation to other three works of this author on the same theme and, more in general, to the thought of other late scholastic masters, such as Jean Gerson and Heymeric de Campo.

Studia Ceranea, 2021

The article aims to analyze the meaning and the role of the notion of communis schola in the theo... more The article aims to analyze the meaning and the role of the notion of communis schola in the theological and ecclesiological thought of Jean Gerson (1363-1429), Chancellor of the University of Paris, schoolman influent in every intellectual debate of his time, and renowned spiritual advisor. Driven by a constant concern for the unity of the Church, Gerson is aware of the need to realize this unity first of all within the University environment, in order to avoid the circulation and the spread of heterodox or even heretical doctrines; his references to the concept of "common school", in different textual contexts and with various shades of meaning, invest not only the doctrinal contents, but also the methodology, the moral attitudes, and the right theological models of the ideal master and of the ideal student of theo logy. The article also touches the way in which the Parisian chancellor deals with mysticism and mystical writers, using the concept of "common school" to define the borders and the terms in which it is possible to access the difficult and obscure field of the mystical theo logy.

M. Abram, A. Dlabacova, I. Falque, G. Signore (ed.), "Mobility of Ideas and Transmission of Texts. Religion, Learning and Literature in the Rhineland and the Low Countries (ca. 1300-1500), Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2015

M. E. Consoli (ed.), Sapientia et Eloquentia. Omaggio ad Antonio Garzya, offerto dall'AST, sez. di Lecce, Galatina, Congedo Editore, 2012

Rudiae 20-21, pp. 209-222, 2009

Conference Presentations by Luciano Micali

Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), 28 November 2024. Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve,... more Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), 28 November 2024. Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). Colloque International "Les réceptions de la spiritUalité médiévale dans les Pays-Bas et dans la région rhénane en Europe à l'époque moderne. Héritages, circulations et réseaux". 27-29 November 2024.

Cologne (Germany), 9-13 September 2024. 44. Kölner Mediaevistentagung.

Prague (Czech Republic), 4-6 September 2024. Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM (Société Internationa... more Prague (Czech Republic), 4-6 September 2024. Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM (Société Internationale pour l'étude de la Philosophie Médiévale).

Utrecht (The Netherlands), 26-28 June 2024. Paper given at the Annual Conference of the I.G.T.M. ... more Utrecht (The Netherlands), 26-28 June 2024. Paper given at the Annual Conference of the I.G.T.M. (Internationale Gesellschaft für Theologische Mediävistik).

Lecce (Italy), 18. December 2023. Lecture at the University of Salento within the lectures series... more Lecce (Italy), 18. December 2023. Lecture at the University of Salento within the lectures series "'Minima naturalia'. Materia e materialismo tra fisica e metafisica", organized by Prof. Nadia Bray.

Warsaw (Poland), Polish Academy of Sciences, 24-26 October 2023. Research Colloquium "Manuscripta... more Warsaw (Poland), Polish Academy of Sciences, 24-26 October 2023. Research Colloquium "Manuscripta dicunt".

Helsinki, 15. September 2023 - Lecture given at the History of Philosophy Research Seminar. Unive... more Helsinki, 15. September 2023 - Lecture given at the History of Philosophy Research Seminar. University of Helsinki.

Basel, 6-9 September 2023 - 7th European Congress of FIDEM (Fédération Internationale des Institu... more Basel, 6-9 September 2023 - 7th European Congress of FIDEM (Fédération Internationale des Instituts d'Études Médiévales)

69° Convegno di Studi Bonaventuriani. Bagnoregio, 26-28 Maggio 2023.

Paper in the Workshop "The Logic of Matter". Helsinki, 16.02.2023

A. Speer - T. Jeschke (ed.), "Consensus", De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston 2024 (Miscellanea Mediaevalia 43), 2024

Patristica et Mediaevalia 44.1, 2023

Patristica et Mediaevalia, 44.1, 2023

Acta Universitatis Carolinae Philologica 2021/4, pp. 113-127, 2021

Studia Ceranea, 2021

M. E. Consoli (ed.), Sapientia et Eloquentia. Omaggio ad Antonio Garzya, offerto dall'AST, sez. di Lecce, Galatina, Congedo Editore, 2012

Rudiae 20-21, pp. 209-222, 2009

Cologne (Germany), 9-13 September 2024. 44. Kölner Mediaevistentagung.

69° Convegno di Studi Bonaventuriani. Bagnoregio, 26-28 Maggio 2023.

Paper in the Workshop "The Logic of Matter". Helsinki, 16.02.2023

43. Kölner Mediaevistentagung, Cologne, 5-9 September 2022.

Paris, 22-26 August 2022. SIEPM Congress "Radical Thinking in the Middle Ages"

Conference "Late Medieval Hylomorphism: Matter and Form. 1300-1600", KU Leuven, 9-11 June 2022.

Public lecture at the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague 04.11.2021

Tábor (Czech Republic), 20-22 October 2021. Conference: Radical Religious Communities in Premoder... more Tábor (Czech Republic), 20-22 October 2021. Conference: Radical Religious Communities in Premodern Societies.

Public lecture for the Czech Society of Philology (30th September 2021)

Porto (Portugal), 14-15 and 21.22 June 2021. SIEPM Colloquium, "Per cognitionem visualem. The Vis... more Porto (Portugal), 14-15 and 21.22 June 2021. SIEPM Colloquium, "Per cognitionem visualem. The Visualization of Cognitive and Natural Processes in the Middle Ages".

VI European Congress of Medieval Studies FIDEM, Basel 2-5 September 2018

International conference: "Spielverderber der Geistesgeschichte". Munich (Germany), 14-15.03.2014.

Quodlibetales 2012-2013. Freiburg (Germany), June 2013.

Course at the University of Helsinki. Spring Term 2023-2024. Master's program in Philosophy.

Course at the University of Helsinki. Spring Term 2022-2023. Master's program in Philosophy.

Course at Charles University in Prague for the Winter Term 2021-2022.

Course for Charles University in Prague, Winter Term 2021-2022.

Course for the Summer Term 2021 at the Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute o... more Course for the Summer Term 2021 at the Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Greek and Latin Studies.

The relationship between philosophy and theology animates the intellectual life in the Middle Ages. If nowadays we see these two disciplines as very far from each other and sometimes even opposed, in the Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages philosophy and theology were tightly related and often mixed. Thinkers like Thomas Aquinas or Albert the Great used both philosophical and theological categories in their intellectual speculation. Theology built up its language referring to the Greek and Latin philosophical terminology. Medieval University masters used authoritative texts of Aristotle, Plato, Seneca and other philosophers in their teaching and writing activity. In this intellectual context, philosophers and theologians often reflected on the synergy, cooperation, limits and sometimes dangers of the relationship between two disciplines that have, in themselves, different origins and totally different purposes.

During the course, through the analysis of relevant texts and authors, we will discuss the relationship between Philosophy and Theology in the Middle Ages, looking in particular at the University life and at the production of academic texts (commentaries, treatises, summae, disputed questions, etc.).

Among the thinkers of the Late Antiquity, Augustine of Hippo (354-430) takes on a position of extraordinary importance in the history of thought. Ideal trait d’union between the Antiquity and the Middle Ages, he deploys his ample production in various genres (commentaries on the Bible, philosophical and theological treatises, apologetic and polemic works, writings on rhetoric, logic, and autobiography). A Christian Bishop nourished by the study of the Greek and Latin classics and of the great rhetors, a brilliant rhetor himself in the early part of his life, Augustine succeeds in transforming, revitalizing, and transmitting the old pagan culture, absorbing it as a set of logical, philosophical, and literary tools to be used in the new Christian intellectual speculation.

Through the study of his most important works, and the reading of relevant textual passages, we will trace the trajectory of the evolution of Augustine’s thought, and we will analyze the rhetorical and stylistic instruments that are typical of his writings. Some attention, towards the end of the course, will also be paid to his legacy and to the reception of his works in the Middle Ages.

Course for the Winter Term 2020-2021 - Charles University of Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute o... more Course for the Winter Term 2020-2021 - Charles University of Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Greek and Latin Studies.

The Late Middle Ages see the establishment of a university culture that monopolizes the philosophical and theological landscape of the whole of Europe. With the increasing diffusion of the universities, several schools of thought animate the intellectual debates, disputing on every possible conceptual or doctrinal problems, and producing an impressive amount of literature in the typical genres of the Scholasticism (commentaries, disputed questions, summae). Such a university culture basically lies on three pillars: the constant reference to the authorities (Aristotle and Plato in particular), the creation of a rigidly technical language, and the exclusive use of Latin.

During our course and through the reading of some relevant texts, we will analyze from a historical, philosophical, and literary point of view how this kind of university culture structures itself in various intellectual centers. We will highlight how the reception of Aristotle’s works constitutes the core of this medieval university culture. Then, through the study of the peculiar literary genres of the Scholasticism, we will also pay attention to the process of selection and systematization of the previous knowledge that is typical of the activity of the university professors of the Late Middle Ages.

The early centuries of the history of Christianity are characterized by a dynamic and fluid doctrinal situation. This fluidity is essentially given by the circulation of various versions of the biblical texts, by the existence of various doctrinal traditions and by the uncertainties of a not yet structured theological language. Some theologians, such as Origen and Jerome, work on the biblical texts with commentaries, translations, and philological works with the aim to put order in the various traditions, and to reduce the distance between the authenticity of the doctrinal concepts, and the possibility to express them in Greek and Latin. Authors like Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo are able to absorb the old Greek and Latin culture as a set of rhetorical, philosophical, and literary tools to be used for the establishment of a new Christian system of ideas. Another author, Boethius, with his Latin translations of Aristotle’s works, and his desire to fully incorporate the philosophy of Stagira in his own philosophical and theological works, shows a properly medieval sensitivity that will represent, some centuries later, the core of the Scholasticism and of the medieval university knowledge.

During the course, through the reading of selected texts of relevant authors from the Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, we will outline the main features of the early Christian thought under a historical, philosophical and literary perspective. We will highlight the elements of continuity and discontinuity with the old pagan culture, and will also see how the patristic intellectual speculation provides the theological categories for the medieval Scholasticism. Attention will also be paid to the medieval reception of some early Christian thinkers.

Course for the Summer Term 2020 - Charles University on Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Gre... more Course for the Summer Term 2020 - Charles University on Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Greek and Latin Studies.

The course aims to recall the history of the concept of curiosity. As a positive driving force, curiosity leads to constantly seek out knowledge, as well as to grasp new ideas, responding to the Aristotelian sentence "omnes homines natura scire desiderant" (“all men by nature desire to know”). In other contexts and in particular in the Christian thought, curiosity is seen as a negative temptation of the soul that distracts the human being from another goal, the spiritual elevation. This preoccupation often leaves him in a perpetual research of earthly things, bringing him ultimately to confusion, dissatisfaction, and perdition. During the course, this double dimension of curiosity will constantly be put in relation with the process of studying and learning in their various forms and fields of the ancient and medieval culture. The course is meant as interdisciplinary and is open to all those who are interested in the ancient and medieval culture, in particular philosophers, philologists, historians, theologians and experts of cultural studies.

Course for the Summer Term 2020 - Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Gre... more Course for the Summer Term 2020 - Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Arts, Institute of Greek and Latin Studies.

Through the mediation of the Arabic culture, many new texts of the ancient Greek philosophers reached Europe in the XII century and changed forever the Western culture. Read and used in their Latin translations, these works (in particular an important amount of new Aristotelian texts) were used in the medieval intellectual speculation, serving as logical foundations or philosophical authorities to be constantly quoted, in order to support or contrast philosophical or theological argumentations. In the course, we will analyze some of the most important strategies that the medieval thinkers adopted for absorbing and using these ancient texts. We will also see how these texts were transmitted or were the object of anthologies (florilegia). Attention will also be given to the study of how
Christian medie-val thinkers often “forced” the texts of Plato and Aristotle with tendentious translations and interpretations, in order to make them more acceptable and nearer to the Christian dogmas. The course is meant as interdisciplinary and is open to all those who are interested in the medieval culture, in particular philosophers, philologists, historians, theologians and experts of cultural studies.

Proseminar Sommersemester 2014. University of Freiburg, Faculty of Philosophy. Teacher: Luciano M... more Proseminar Sommersemester 2014. University of Freiburg, Faculty of Philosophy. Teacher: Luciano Micali. Language: German.

Proseminar Wintersemester 2013-2014. University of Freiburg, Faculty of Philosophy. Teacher: Luci... more Proseminar Wintersemester 2013-2014. University of Freiburg, Faculty of Philosophy. Teacher: Luciano Micali. Language: German.

Proseminar Sommersemester 2013. University of Freiburg., Faculty of Philosophy. Teacher: Luciano ... more Proseminar Sommersemester 2013. University of Freiburg., Faculty of Philosophy. Teacher: Luciano Micali. Language: German.

Per cognitionem visualem. The Visualization of Cognitive and Natural Processes in the Middle Ages Acts of the XXV Annual Colloquium of the Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale, Porto, 14–15 and 21–22 June 2021, 2023

This volume offers an overview of medieval representations of knowl-edge under a philosophical pe... more This volume offers an overview of medieval representations of knowl-edge under a philosophical perspective. The study of imagery examples and thinking practices introduced by a diverse scholars seeks to explore representation uses, analytical approaches on perception, and the con-text’s transmission of visual frameworks. Incidentally, contemporary studies on diagrammatic thought systematize those complex relations into scienti c practices, perceptual patterns, and contextual insights. The undeniable value of visual tools linked with knowledge spreading and learning practices during the Middle Ages assemble manuscript traditions, intellectual practices, and philosophical debates. Visual tools, frequently appearing in Medieval manuscripts, have often been considered “illustrative material” intended to facilitate textual compre-hension. However, these visual frameworks offer something more than a straightforward correspondence between a conceptual interpretation and its  gurative depiction. They are, in fact, key to understanding the methods of acquiring and shaping knowledge through visual frame-works with didactical, disputational or heuristic purposes.

Patristica et Mediaevalia, 44.1, 2023

Micali, L. The search for unity in the doctrinal sphere, mirror and instrument of the unity of th... more Micali, L. The search for unity in the doctrinal sphere, mirror and instrument of the unity of the Church, is a recurring element in the work of Jean Gerson (1363-1429), renowned theologian and Chancellor of the University of Paris between the 14th and the 15th century. The insistence on the concept of unity is conveyed by a constant reflection on the role and methods of the theological writing. Gerson identifies precise methods and models to follow in order to explain some obscurities of the Scriptures with clarity and precision, and without risks for the integrity of the doctrine. A fundamental part of the reflection on theological writing is the discussion on the possibility of using vernacular, a possibility that the Parisian chancellor strongly denies, stigmatizing the linguistic confusion which inevitably would lead not only to mutual misunderstanding, but to the breakdown of a correspondence between terms and concepts that has its roots in a consolidated and centuries-old theological tradition in Latin. The present article intends to study Gerson’s reflection on the language, methods and selection of models in the context of the academic theological writing, in the broader framework of the search for unity in the doctrinal sphere, a necessary element for pursuing the unity of Church tout court.