Genealogy of Philology. The formative phase of Classical, Biblical, and Modern Philology 1777-1818

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Jürgen Paul Schwindt; Professor Dr. Daniel Weidner
• Subject Area: History of Science ; General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies ; Greek and Latin Philology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 468946601

Against the background of resurging interest in philology in the humanities, the project investigates the emergence of modern philologies at the end of the 18th and beginning of the19th century. While the history of Biblical, Classical and Modern Philology is often treated in separate disciplinary histories, our project focuses on the interaction and interdependence of these three fields in connection with more general processes of secularization. Three closely connected exemplary sub-projects examine the complex constitution and self-justification of the philological disciplines. Anecdotes and small forms (SP 1) which are central in the respective disciplinary traditions can be read as ‘primal scenes’ which condense heterogeneous and contradictory assumptions and claims of the disciplines. In programmatic writings in the field of Classical Philology (SP2) the recourse to established figures of thought from antique texts often replaces an explicit discussion of methodological questions. Using the University of Göttingen as a case study (SP 3), the transfer of questions, concepts, and methods between the three philologies is to be analyzed. Through joint events and the integration of the project team in the respective institutions, the cooperation between Classical Philology and Modern Literary Studies will be intensified.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants