Center for the History of Text and Language Studies
Research work of the Center for History of TLS covers the following fields of studies:reconstruction of self-consciousness of humanities, status of humanities in intellectual culture, disciplinary borderlines and conceptual foundations of disciplinary classifications, institutional aspects of humanities, history of methods and principles of text-analysis, hermeneutics in political culture, literary genres and forms in intellectual culture, theoretical problems of historical narrative.
Last decades have evidenced the increasing interest in the history of humanities, resulting in a growing number of publications and creating of new research groups and departments (e.g. Kooperationsprojekt “Hermeneutik und Methode: Zwischen Logik und Philologie / Herméneutique et méthode: entre logique et philologie”: CNRS, Lille, Lüdwig-Maximilians Universität, München. Head of the project – prof. Denis Thouard). Historical dimension is inherent to the contemporary human sciences theory of human sciences. Therefore inquiring into the history of text and language studies implies overcoming of empirical isolationism, common for humaniora (for instance, classical philology and ancient history studies). At the same time, such an ambitious research project requires synthesis of traditional historical and philological (empirical) approaches and theoretical methods elaborated in contemporary humanities – in such fields as philosophical hermeneutics, philosophy of language, political theory, narrativistic approaches to historical texts, ideological criticism, argumentation theory, “new rhetorics”.
The novelty of the Center’s program is due to the synthesis of research and training activities, introducing the early stage researchers to the field of theory and history of humanities (particularly of the pre-modern period). The training program of the Center is characterized by a unique combination of academic courses with a particular focus on the theoretical topics, included in the program of every course. Educational strategy within the system of Center’s seminars presupposes transition from empirical studies and source-oriented analysis towards a theoretical approach to the scientific writings of the pre-modern period of the history of science. The system of research and training seminars of the Center conforms with this principle.
Projects
Historical Self-Consciousness of the Humanities in the 13th – 16th Centuries (RSFH, 2008-2010)
Commentary in Culture: History and Contemporaneity (2005-2007)