What is the classic in history? What is a classic in historical writing? Very few historians and critics have addressed these questions, and when they have done so, it has been only in a cursory manner. These are queries that require some explanation regarding historical texts because of their peculiar ambivalence between science and art, content and form, sources and imagination, scientific and narrative language. Based on some examples of the Western historiographical tradition, I discuss in this article to what (...) extent historians should engage the concept of the classic – as has been done for literary texts. If one assumes that the historical text is not only a referential account but also a narrative analogous to literary texts, then the concept of the classic becomes one of the keys for understanding the historical text – and may improve our understanding not only of historiography, but of history itself. I will argue in this article that it is possible to identify a category of the classic text in some historical writings, precisely because of the literarity they possess without losing their specific historical condition. Because of their narrative condition, historical texts share some of the features assigned to literary texts – that is, endurance, timelessness, universal meaningfulness, resistance to historical criticism, susceptibility to multiple interpretations, and ability to function as models. Yet, since historical texts do not construct imaginary worlds but reflect external realities, they also have to achieve some specific features according to this referential content – that is, surplus of meaning, historical use of metaphors, effect of contemporaneity without damaging the pastness of the past, and a certain appropriation of literariness. Without seeking to be normative or systematic, this article focuses on some specific features of the historical classic, offering a series of reflections to open rather than try to close a debate on this complex topic. (shrink)

What is the classic in history? What is a classic in historical writing? Very few historians and critics have addressed these questions, and when they have done so, it has been only in a cursory manner. These are queries that require some explanation regarding historical texts because of their peculiar ambivalence between science and art, content and form, sources and imagination, scientific and narrative language. Based on some examples of the Western historiographical tradition, I discuss in this article to what (...) extent historians should engage the concept of the classic – as has been done for literary texts. If one assumes that the historical text is not only a referential account but also a narrative analogous to literary texts, then the concept of the classic becomes one of the keys for understanding the historical text – and may improve our understanding not only of historiography, but of history itself. I will argue in this article that it is possible to identify a category of the classic text in some historical writings, precisely because of the literarity they possess without losing their specific historical condition. Because of their narrative condition, historical texts share some of the features assigned to literary texts – that is, endurance, timelessness, universal meaningfulness, resistance to historical criticism, susceptibility to multiple interpretations, and ability to function as models. Yet, since historical texts do not construct imaginary worlds but reflect external realities, they also have to achieve some specific features according to this referential content – that is, surplus of meaning, historical use of metaphors, effect of contemporaneity without damaging the pastness of the past, and a certain appropriation of literariness. Without seeking to be normative or systematic, this article focuses on some specific features of the historical classic, offering a series of reflections to open rather than try to close a debate on this complex topic. (shrink)

The living world is an exciting and inexhaustible source of high performance solutions to the multitude of biological problems, which were attained as a result of a natural selection, during the millions and millions years evolution of life on Earth. This work presents and comments some examples of high performances of living beings, in the light of the universal principle governing the realm of living matter: Optimal Design Principle. At the same time, the transfer of these optimal solutions, from living (...) matter to the technologies, is also discussed. This transfer is offering new and fertile perspectives to future technologies, which must be more efficient, cheaper and in perfect harmony with the biosphere. (shrink)

Karl Popper always claimed himself to be a realist. However, his constant denial to give definitions to the philosophical concepts, makes it difficult to understand what exactly he means by realism. This article focuses the attention on three meanings of Popper’s realism: a metaphysical, an epistemological and a sensible realism. The later sense can be rooted in the new studies on the ethical roots of all Popper’s philosophy.

El artículo presenta, analiza y comenta un texto de Arnau de Vilanova que se ha conservado relativo a la discusión que sostuvo este autor con los teólogos de París sobre la falacia del consecuente, en el contexto de la polémica escatológica . Los teólogos de París descalificaron la argumentación de Arnau de Vilanova porque incurría en la falacia del consecuente. Arnau de Vilanova se defiende de esta acusación.The article presents, analyzes and comments a text of Arnau de Vilanova that has (...) been conserved relative to the discussion that maintained this author with the theologians of Paris on the “fallacia consequentis”, in the context of the eschatological controversy . The theologians of Paris disqualified the argumentation of Arnau de Vilanova because he incurred the “fallacia consequentis”. Arnau de Vilanova defends himself of this accusation. (shrink)

Based on narrative, iconographical, and liturgical sources, this is the first systematic study to trace the story of the ritual of royal self-coronations from Ancient Persia to the present. Exposing as myth the idea that Napoleon's act of self-coronation in 1804 was the first extraordinary event to break the secular tradition of kings being crowned by bishops, Jaume Aurell vividly demonstrates that self-coronations were not as transgressive or unconventional as has been imagined. Drawing on numerous examples of royal (...) self-coronations, with a particular focus on European Kings of the Middle Ages, including Frederic II of Germany, Alphonse XI of Castile, Peter IV of Aragon and Charles III of Navarra, Aurell draws on history, anthropology, ritual studies, liturgy and art history to explore royal self-coronations as privileged sites at which the frontiers and limits between the temporal and spiritual, politics and religion, tradition and innovation are encountered. (shrink)

Western historiography experienced an important shift in the seventies due to the emergence of the theories associated with the linguistic turn, postmodernism and postestructuralism. Hayden White was one of the historians who led this transformation in the historical discipline. He argued that a historical text could be compared to a literary artifact on the leven of the form, since both use the same instrument —narrative— to representation the truth —whose content is factual events in history and fiction in literature. This (...) idea revolutionized contemporary approaches to the interpretation of historical texts. This paper analyzes White’s theories and its effects on contemporary historical writing. (shrink)

Ferrer, Vicent (2021)De suppositionibusEdició crítica del text llatí, traducció catalana, introducció a cura de Josep Batalla i Elena de la Cruz Vergari, traducció anglesa de Robert D. HughesSanta Coloma de Queralt: Obrador Edèndum, 793 p.ISBN 978-84-120007-4-0.

Gomes de Lisboa Escrito sobre as Questões Metafísicas de António André: Scriptum super Questiones Metaphisice Antonii AndreeEdição bilingue latim-português. Introdução, edição, tradução e notas Mário João CorreiaPorto: Edições Afrontamento, 195 p.ISBN 978-972-36-1839-6.

Tomàs and Joaquim Carreras stated that either the Scriptum super Metaphysicam Aristotelis was not genuinely by Antonius Andreae, or it was subjected to interpolations because its author demonstrates knowledge of classical culture and a mentality characteristic of the fifteenth century. Experts currently consider this work to be genuinely by Andreae; but could it also have been subjected to interpolations? Only a detailed examination of the manuscript and printed tradition will, in the future, allow this question to be answered definitively. For (...) the moment, this article analyses the knowledge of classical culture demonstrated in this work, and concludes that it is compatible with the knowledge available to an author from the beginning of the fourteenth century. (shrink)

Cet article a pour objet la synthèse et la critique faites par Arnau de Vilanova, dans le Gladius iugulans thomatistas, des thèses de Thomas d’Aquin sur la possibilité de connaître la fin des temps. De surcroît, nous établirons sa contextualisation dans le cadre de la controverse entre le médecin catalan, Jean Vigorós et Martin d’Ateca. Le fragment mentionné est édité avec trois passages supplémentaires ; une description détaillée du ms. Canon. Misc. 370 (Bodleian Library, Oxford) est également fournie.

The aim of this article is to analyse and explain the differences between the text written by Arnau de Vilanova and edited by M. Flacius Illiricus in 1562 under the title Collocutio Friderici Regis Siciliae et nostra, and the text edited by M. Menéndez y Pelayo in 1879 under the title Interpretatio facta per magistrum Arnaldum de Villa nova de visionibus in somniis dominorum Jacobi Secundi Regis Aragonum et Frederici Tertii Regis Siciliae. Since Menéndez's edition, the idea has spread among (...) Arnau de Vilanova scholars that both works were the same and that the differences were simple textual variants of little importance. The article concludes that the Collocutio is actually the complete and definitive version of the work, and that the Interpretatio is a partial version corresponding to a previous stage in the redaction of the work. Collocutio is also the definitive... (shrink)

Con su Expositio in XII libros Metaphysicae Aristotelis Antonio Andrés ofrece una alternativa escotista a la obra homónima de Tomás de Aquino y trata de superarla. En esta obra Andrés refuta algunas interpretaciones del Aquinate. El objetivo del presente artículo consiste en analizar la respuesta de Bartolomeo Spina a las críticas de Andrés. Las Defensiones de Spina fueron publicadas en 1517 y posteriormente se integraron en los Commentaria in XII libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis del Aquinate que Spina editó diversas veces.