The Hebrew-into-Latin Maimonides: A critical edition of the Dux neutrorum

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Andreas Speer, since 11/2021
• Subject Area: History of Philosophy
• Term: from 2020 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 436184513

The general purpose of this project is to present a critical edition of the Dux neutrorum, the Latin translation of Moses Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed. This work counts among the most influential Jewish philosophical and theological texts. Crossing cultural and religious borders, the Latin version of the Guide had a tremendous impact on the Latin speaking world from the 13th century onwards. At the same time, the Guide is an outstanding example of the translation movement from Arabic into Hebrew into Latin in the 12th and 13th century. One of the major outcomes of the translation movement of philosophical works into Latin in the 12th- and 13th-century has been the development of a specific philosophical terminology that served as an instrument for the reflection of medieval thinkers. This Latin version is today transmitted by thirteen manuscripts and has never been edited before. For more than a century, the critical edition of the Dux neutrorum has been an open desideratum of the scientific community. The absence of a reliable text raises several interpretative problems for the understanding of Maimonides’ reception among Latin authors. Originally composed in Judeo-Arabic between 1180 and 1191, the Guide was translated into Hebrew twice. During the first half of the 13th century, a Latin version appeared. There neither is information on the identity of the Latin translator nor on the time and place of its production. Concerning its geographical origin, scholars formulated different assumptions: the court of Frederick II, Southern France, Paris and Catalonia. The project will be structured according to four tasks: a) The Dux neutrorum III will be critically edited for the first time; b) The relation with the Hebrew text will be inquired; c) The Dux Neutrorum’s reception in the Renaissance will be investigated; d) A digital version of the text will be made available. The project can build on substantial preliminary results achieved over the past eight years. Investigations into the Latin manuscript tradition of the Dux neutrorum, focused especially on part I and part II, have been conducted by the PI. On the basis of the collation, the relations within the manuscripts have been reconstructed. The critical edition of Dux neutrorum I has been completed, while the critical edition of Dux neutrorum II is currently in progress. With the edition of Part III, the critical edition of the Dux neutrorum would be complete. The project is characterized by an interdisciplinary and multi-linguistic approach, which provides the conditions to complete for the first time a thorough study of Maimonides’ Latin reception based on a philologically reliable text. This approach aims at contextualizing the Dux neutrorum in relation with its Hebrew source. The project will advance in strict collaboration with the on-going project on the critical edition of the Guide’s Hebrew version held at the Tel Aviv University.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemalige Antragstellerin: Dr. Diana Di Segni, until 10/2021