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Faculty of Arts and HumanitiesEGSAMP

The EGSAMP

The EGSAMP is a network of research institutions from European universities which have established a platform for a lasting collaboration in the field of ancient and medieval philosophy. The primary objective of the EGSAMP is the promotion of doctoral research and of young researchers. It aims (1) at the facilitation of studying, researching and teaching in the partner institutions, (2) at the exchange of knowledge and offered courses and (3) at the organisation of joint educational activities, workshops and research projects. Thus it expects to form a dynamic and growing community of scholars and to strengthen and to develop further a type of research into ancient, medieval, and renaissance philosophy that creatively combines historical and systematic perspectives.

Institutional Framework

The EGSAMP was officially founded on September 11th 2006 in Cologne, following a workshop on “Historiography of Medieval Philosophy: New Approaches and Perspectives”. Its establishment is a move to institutionalise and thus to preserve and to tighten longstanding ties between the members. The participating institutions have signed an agreement declaring their intention to further develop the existing possibilities of exchange and cooperation on all levels. Following the principle of decentralized action and lean management the EGSAMP is not meant to become an independent organisation, but rather to gather and to coordinate already existing local and international collaborations as well as to encourage new ones. Some of the means employed are:

  • Erasmus agreements (existing between all EGSAMP partners)
  • Bilateral agreements like University partnerships and associated programmes
  • Co-tutelle agreements
  • Dottorato europeo
  • Common research projects

According to the principles exposed above, funding will be procured for each particular project on a local or national level. Every partner institute relies on the resources and equipment that are at its disposal as a university institution.

The EGSAMP has an administrative office at the Thomas-Institut in Cologne which takes care of the coordination of EGSAMP activities and the exchange of information and which maintains this website.

Responsible:
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Andreas Speer
Thomas-Institut
Universität zu Köln
Universitätsstrasse 22
D-50923 Köln
andreas.speer(at)uni-koeln.de
phone: +49-(0)221-470-7873

Conceptual Framework

The European Graduate School for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy is intended for all those who, rather than seeing philosophy’s legacy as an historical burden, want to study the long historical genesis of the great philosophical questions. The archeological perspective is here applied to the questions at issue, and at the same time to the conceptualization of the historical and philosophical project. The object of the EGSAMP is ancient and medieval philosophical questions in their various cultural and linguistic traditions; their transmission and reception in Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance; as well as the epistemic and epoch-making views and attitudes that lie at their foundation, this with an eye towards early modern and contemporary philosophy.
Specifically, the EGSAMP is intended (1) to convey and reinforce fundamental knowledge and to strengthen the research profile of this knowledge, (2) to develop a fundamental reflection on method, perhaps in relation to scientific discourse and everyday discourse, or to cultural ties and media representations, (3) to investigate the reciprocal and irreducible interaction between the historical and the systematic.
This general framework will be given substance through the research traditions and the current research projects of the Departments and Centers participating in the EGSAMP. For a list of ongoing projects see the separate pages of the member institutions as well as our Activities page.