ERC Advanced Grant 
European Research Council
SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
"Ideas" Specific programme
Project full title: Philosophy on the Border of Civilizations and Intellectual Endeavours: Towards a Critical Edition of the Metaphysics (Ilahiyyat of Kitab al-Shifa’) of Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
Project acronym: PhiBor
Grant agreement no.: 339621
Beginning: 1 February 2014
Duration: 60 months
Budget: 1.140.800 euros
Principal Investigator: Amos Bertolacci
Host Institution: Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
For its tremendous impact on subsequent philosophers and theologians,
not only in the Islamic, but also in the Christian and Jewish worlds,
Avicenna’s metaphysics represents a turning-point in the history
of philosophy until modern times. A reliable edition of his most
important metaphysical work, the Ilahiyyat (Divine Things) of the
Shifa’ (The Cure), is therefore a major desideratum. Avicenna
(Ibn Sina, d. 1037CE), the greatest philosopher in Islamic civilization
and an influential physician, intended the Shifa’ as a detailed
summa of all parts of philosophy, updating and completing
Aristotle’s corpus. The Ilahiyyat (the metaphysical section of
this summa) is an enlarged version of Aristotle’s natural
theology, incremented with materials taken from Neoplatonic works, and
argues for metaphysics as a science that provides a rational
interpretation of all monotheistic religions, including Islam.
The project aims at replacing the existing faulty printed versions of this work with a reliable edition, established critically along the standards of classical philology, with facing translation, running commentary, and comprehensive lexica. As a first step, the numerous manuscripts of the work will be systematically investigated, and their census and description, as well as images of their relevant parts, will be published on a web-site. Secondly, editorial technologies designed by computer science for works with a massive manuscript tradition will be applied. Finally, the on-line publication of the results will ensure their wide diffusion and the possibility of a constant updating on the basis of the progress of research. Scholars will thus have a solid – but, at the same time, flexible and adaptable – access to one of the most significant philosophical works that not only realized, but also fostered fruitful dialogue among different cultures (Greek, Arabic, Latin, Hebrew), religions (Islamic, Christian, Jewish), and intellectual endeavours (philosophy, theology, science).
The project aims at replacing the existing faulty printed versions of this work with a reliable edition, established critically along the standards of classical philology, with facing translation, running commentary, and comprehensive lexica. As a first step, the numerous manuscripts of the work will be systematically investigated, and their census and description, as well as images of their relevant parts, will be published on a web-site. Secondly, editorial technologies designed by computer science for works with a massive manuscript tradition will be applied. Finally, the on-line publication of the results will ensure their wide diffusion and the possibility of a constant updating on the basis of the progress of research. Scholars will thus have a solid – but, at the same time, flexible and adaptable – access to one of the most significant philosophical works that not only realized, but also fostered fruitful dialogue among different cultures (Greek, Arabic, Latin, Hebrew), religions (Islamic, Christian, Jewish), and intellectual endeavours (philosophy, theology, science).
ultimo aggiornamento: 20/10/2014