Krovoza, Alfred [German version] A. Prefatory Remarks (CT) Any discussion of the mnemonic tradition, i.e. its reception history, faces a dilemma. The narrow definition - an established standard in textbooks - as a mental technique to generate memoria artificialis or to optimise memoria naturalis for rhetorical practice in an oral culture (see below) excludes the greatest part of its influence, as seminal studies of the material have revealed. A wider definition, however, risks conflating mnemonics with memory in general and its manifold …

Kaminski, Nicola I. Germany (CT) [German version] A. General Definition and Systematic Preliminary Clarifications (CT) If one attempts to define the specific nature of the Romantic reception of Antiquity with regard to the preceding literary tradition in Germany, the dismissal of 'the ancients' from their previously undisputed position as an aesthetic standard stands out as the most striking innovation. The artistic and literary authority of ancient models had been challenged before Romanticism, for example in…

Mojsisch, Burkhard Summerell, Orrin F. [German version] A. Introduction (CT) Platonism refers to philosophical thinking that has its roots in Plato's writings and his school. According to Platonism the manifold world of appearances is a reflection of the unchanging world of ideas/forms. True and essential reality is the world of forms: This reality always remains identical in itself, by itself and with itself; only the intellect can perceive and investigate it. In terms of epistemology and ontology, as w…

Münkler, Herfried (Berlin RWG) Llanque, Marcus (Berlin RWG) I. General (CT) [German version] A. Cycles in the Reception of Antiquity in the History of Ideas (CT) The political thought of Antiquity had a considerable effect on the development of political theory (PT), beginning with the High Middle Ages. Many ancient political concepts found renewed use in political discourse, and the political theories of Antiquity also had a formative influence on the construction of theory itself, its systematic inquiry and the cognit…