Making the Medieval World. The Metaphysical Foundations of Social Groups in Late Medieval Philosophy

In contemporary philosophy there is an animated discussion on the nature and origin - the metaphysical foundations - of social groups such as states, corporations, associations, book clubs, genders, races, etc. There is, however, exceptionally little historical analysis of the subject before the early modern period.

The purpose of the present three-year project is to investigate the virtually unstudied discussions on the metaphysical foundations of social groups in the thought of selected mid-13th to 14th-century philosophers.

By the careful historical and systematic analysis of key medieval sources from Thomas Aquinas to Nicolas Oresme, this project will prove that these philosophers advanced complex theories on what social groups are and how they are built up that pre-figure later philosophers like Hobbes and Locke.

While historians of ideas and political thought have thematized medieval views on the individual and society at large, the precise question of the metaphysical foundations of social groups has never been systematically treated before even though medieval innovations anticipate many of our own.

The novel character of this project consists, therefore, in its hitherto unexplored focus on medieval theorizing about social groups as social entities that form part of social reality as well as its aim to address a gaping lacuna in our historical knowledge of a question that is hotly debated today.