SFB 573:  Pluralization and Authority in the Early Modern Period, 15th to 17th Centuries

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: from 2001 to 2011
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5484562

The collaborative research centre studies the matrix and basic structures of the Early Modern Period, the impact of medieval heritage, and the foundations of the transition to Modernity. Under the key notions ‘Pluralization’ and ‘Authority’ the collaborative research centre coordinates research in the areas of Philosophy, Theology, History, Linguistics, Literature, Art History and History of Science. ‘Pluralization’ means the multiplication of culturally relevant representations of reality, the emergence of ‘new’ knowledge, and the formation of conflicting ‘partial’ realities; new forms of dialogue surface which make comparisons and translations. Important aspects of this dynamic are denominational processes, the organization of knowledge, and social habitus. Pluralization is not yet pluralism. Truth claims are not simply demonopolized but encroach upon different zones of validity. The complementary notion of ‘Authority’ means different forms of normative claims: Agencies of political and religious power, processes of canonization, as well as those claims to power inherent in the Latin concept of ‘auctoritas.’ Authority instigates and legitimizes decisions. It is not only a taming counterpart of processes of pluralization but also sparks new contradictions and differentiations, opening up new spaces.
The conjunction of a dynamic and a static concept aims at eluding the teleological implications of existing paradigms in research like ‘Modernization’. The high degree of abstraction of the key notions of ‘Pluralization’ and ‘Authority’ makes it possible to look at processes, which are commonly fragmented by diverse disciplines, from a unified perspective, without neglecting the tensions and discontinuities.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Pluralität der Erkenntnisse und Verbindlichkeit der Ordnung als innovative Momente in der Philosophie des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts (Project Head Kessler, Eckhard )
• A02 - Pluralisierungen im Individuum. Späthumanistische Libertinage als Reaktion auf den frühneuzeitlichen Ordnungsverlust (1600-1700) (Project Head Mulsow, Martin )
• A03 - Auctoritas und imitation veterum (Project Head Müller, Jan-Dirk )
• A04 - Conceptualizing Poetry in Early Modern Italy: Pluralization and Hierarchicalization (Project Head Huss, Bernhard )
• A05 - Die Begriffsgeschichte von auctoritas und veritas im 15. Jahrhundert (Project Head Vollmann, Konrad )
• A7 - Autor und Text im Horizont des Renaissancehumanismus (Project Head Worstbrock, Franz Josef )
• A08 - Linguistic Plurality in Early Modern England: Translation and Literary Culture in the Elizabethan Period (Project Head Höfele, Andreas )
• A10 - Systematization and Flexibilization of the Law: Late Scholastic Juridical Doctrine in Spain between Systematic Ideal and Practical Efficiency (Project Head Brieskorn, Norbert )
• A11 - Humanist Theories of Music within the Early Modern System of Knowledge: The Pluralization of an Art Discourse (Project Head Groote, Inga Mai )
• A12 - Diogenes Laertios in Latin c.1416-1533 (Project Head Ricklin, Thomas )
• B01 - 'Settings' of Knowledge in the Expansion of the Early Modern World (Project Head Brendecke, Arndt )
• B02 - Forms and Functions of the Image in Early Modern Europe - "novità": Transforming the Old - Creating the New (Project Heads Büttner, Frank ;  Pfisterer, Ulrich )
• B03 - Paratexte als Formen der Selbstinszenierung und Selbserschließung eines Buches im Spektrum kommunikativer Bedingungen von Autorität und Pluralisierung (1530-1700) (Project Heads Harms, Wolfgang ;  Vögel, Herfried )
• B04 - Poetica und Historica in frühneuzeitlichen Wissenskompilationen (Project Head Müller, Jan-Dirk )
• B05 - The Old World and the New - Traditions of Knowledge and the Christianization of America (Project Head Oesterreicher, Wulf )
• B06 - The Authority of the Irrelevant: Forms of Knowledge and Claims to Validity in Popular Narratives (15th-17th Century) (Project Head Strohschneider, Peter )
• B07 - Academic Culture and Religious Pluralization: Practical Tolerance in Reactions to Heterodox Positions around 1600 (Project Head Vollhardt, Friedrich )
• C1 - Diskursive Sturkturen und Autorisierungspraxis in der radikalen Reformation (Project Head Ehlich, Konrad )
• C3 - Die Pluralisierung des Leibes. Krankheitsverständnis, Alltagspraxis und medizinische Autorität in der Frühen Neuzeit (Project Heads Kessler, Eckhard ;  Kintzinger, Martin ;  Stolberg, Michael )
• C4 - Verrechtlichung der Internationalität. vor- und Frühformen des Völkerrechts in theoretischer Reflexion und jpolitisch-diplomatischer Praxis (15. bis 17. Jahrhundert) (Project Head Kintzinger, Martin )
• C06 - Neue und Alte Welt - Pragmatisierung historiographischer und juristischer Diskurse in der spanischen Kolonisation Amerikas (Project Head Oesterreicher, Wulf )
• C07 - Reformierte Theologie und Philosophie - Die Vereinigten Niederlande im Goldenen Zeitalter (ca. 1575 - 1720) (Project Head Rohls, Jan )
• C08 - Normaljahre, Kalendernorm. Verarbeitung konfessioneller Pluralisierung im Alltag (Project Head Schulze, Winfried )
• C09 - Zuwanderung und Fremdenakzeptanz im 17. und frühen 18. Jahrhundert (Project Head Schulze, Winfried )
• C10 - Saints and Sinners: Puritanism and the Theatre in Early Modern England (1625 - 1700) (Project Head Höfele, Andreas )
• C11 - Authority and Political Contingency at the 15th-Century Curia (Project Head Märtl, Claudia )
• C13 - Pragmatisierung des kanonischen Rechts bei der Kolonisation Amerikas (Project Head Siems, Harald )
• C14 - Oblivio: On the Semiotics and Pragmatics of Forgetting in England c.1600 (Project Head Döring, Tobias )
• C15 - Plurality and Authorization: Multilingualism in the Kingdom of Naples (16th and 17th Century) (Project Heads Krefeld, Thomas ;  Oesterreicher, Wulf )
• C16 - Publishing Strategy and Humanist Learning: Pre-Socratic Fragments in the Late 16th Century (Project Head Primavesi, Oliver )
• C17 - Risk Prevention between Individual and State-governed Provision: The Pragmatization of Future Damage in Early Modern Europe (Project Head Zwierlein, Cornel )
• V - Zentrale Aufgaben des SFB (Project Head Oesterreicher, Wulf )

• Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Participating University: Hochschule für Philosophie München; Philosophische Fakultät S.J.
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Andreas Höfele, since 5/2008; Professor Dr. Wulf Oesterreicher, from 1/2008 until 4/2008 (†)