It means philosophizing in two distinct, even opposing, worlds: in the Land of Islam and in the Land of Christianity. It also means philosophizing at a time when languages, cultures and knowledge were coming together, shifting and being transmitted; a time of confrontation and symbiosis between Greeks, Latins, Jews and Arabs; a moment of exceptional fertility, which saw an Abelard, a Guillaume de Champeaux, an Alain de Lille in Northern Europe, and an Avempace, an Averroes, a Maimonides in Southern Europe, opening up new paths, inventing new forms, forging new styles, receiving and innovating, acting and interacting with their respective traditions.
What is the twelfthcentury , philosophically speaking?
For the Latin world, a pivotal century. For the Arab-Muslim world, a golden century. For both, taken together, a century of encounter that we might be tempted to call "asymmetrical". It is this triple dimension that is the subject of this symposium.
With the support of the Fondation Hugot of the Collège de France.
