Oriental Averroes-manuscripts in Germany and Israel. Digital processing in the context of a virtual research environment

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Speer
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 247683317

This project aims to digitize and process the complete tradition of oriental - meaning Arabic and Hebrew ¿ manuscripts containing works of the philosopher Averroes (1126-1198) which are held in repositories in Germany and Israel. With this, the project sees itself as a part of the Digital Averroes Research Environment (DARE), which, as a virtual research institute, aims to connect and (re)present all efforts in digitization and research on Averroes works worldwide. For the project and in cooperation with the repositories holding the material, all 71 oriental manuscripts of Averroes in Germany and Israel shall be digitized and enriched with meta- and structural data. To allow for a complete capture of the works, two texts which are prominently featured throughout the manuscripts (the Short Commentary to the Organon and the Long Commentary to the Posterior Analytics) shall be processed into digital full texts in both language traditions. All results of the project shall be published online and in open access on the DARE-homepage.Such a mass digitization in a time frame of two years can be possible because of the predefined and geographically closed collection of manuscripts and because of the existing structure and know-how of DARE, on which the project will participate. So, this project only requires funding for the costs of the digitization itself and the processing of the content.This processing will include manuscript descriptions with a special focus on the history of the tradition of works and texts (following the research of Moritz Steinschneider) and a digital representation of the structure of the manuscripts, which allows for a precise linking between images, texts and contents. A focus on the contents of the manuscripts is essential, since the special conditions of the tradition of Averroes' works can only be displayed correctly if the singular textual witnesses are put into relations with each other by means of digital editions as canonical reference points. For this, it is necessary to create digital full texts as sources of editions. ln this project, the selection of texts is made in reference to the scientific relevance of the selected texts, their prominence in the manuscript collection and the possibility to process them in the course of two project years. Further texts contained in the manuscripts can be represented by full texts already created by DARE.By connecting philosophical-philological content and methods of the digital humanities in an extensive research environment, this project underlines the importance and the possibilities of processing local material collections in the digital age. Furthermore, the results of the project will increase our knowledge of lslamic-Arabic philosophy and its impact on European culture and science. With these aspects, the project fits perfectly into the research program and the research interests of the Thomas-lnstitute, which will support it to a great extent.

• DFG Programme: Cataloguing and Digitisation (Scientific Library Services and Information Systems)
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. David Wirmer