Greek philosophers and Christians, western and eastern civilizations, Latin and German peoples faced each other in Late Antiquity. The cultural and historical identity of Europe arose from such a confrontation. It can be aptly conceived of as a "clash of civilizations". The Istituto per il Lessico Intellettuale Europeo e Storia delle Idee, Sezione Pensiero Antico, conducts several researches on later ancient philosophy and its legacy in Latin, Byzantine and Arab traditions.
The Sezione Pensiero Antico is part of the Network "Late Antiquity and Arabic Thought" of the European Science Foundation chaired by Cristina D'Ancona Costa. This Network groups leading scholars in later ancient and Arab philosophy (e.g. M. Frede, J. Dillon, D.J. O'Meara, H. Hugonnard-Roche). The I.L.I.E.S.I. is represented by Riccardo Chiaradonna, scientific coordinator of the Network. In 2001 Vincenza Celluprica has organized in co-operation with the Network an international colloquium on the reception of Aristotle's thought in the Greek and Arab Neoplatonism. The publication of the proceedings is forthcoming. The Sezione Pensiero Antico is also included in the co-ordinate project C.N.R. Agenzia 2000 "La psicologia di Plotino e le tradizioni filosofiche di età imperiale". Several researches on Plotinus' philosophy and the religious-philosophical traditions of his age have been developed in this framework. The publication of a collective volume on this subject is expected. In addition to that a translation with commentary of Plotinus' Enneads is currently being prepared in co-operation with the UPR 76 of the CNRS (Paris-Villejuif).
Such projects cover many disciplines: philosophy, philology, history of science, theology, archaeology and history of figurative arts. Several developments are possible and the I.L.I.E.S.I. encourages the co-operation of different skills. In the series "Elenchos", edited by Vincenza Celluprica, several volumes have been recently published on these topics (e.g.: A. Falcon, Corpi e movimenti: Il De Caelo di Aristotele e la sua fortuna nel mondo antico; M. Bonelli, Alessandro di Afrodisia e la metafisica come scienza dimostrativa; R. Chiaradonna, Sostanza movimento analogia. Plotino critico di Aristotele; A. Gioè, Filosofi medioplatonici del II secolo d. C).
The I.L.I.E.S.I. relies on multiple subventions for its researches in these areas: the E.S.F. Network, the Agenzia 2000 and the Progetto giovani ricercatori MIUR "Psicologia e metafisica in Platone e nel platonismo antico". These subventions provide resources for developing researches, publishing volumes and purchasing books.
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