Imagining Otherness: The Pleasure of Curiosity in the Middle Ages
Anna KOŁOS
Published in Pleasure in the Middle Ages
Keywords: Augustine of Hippo, Curiosity, Imagination, Order of things, Otherness, Pleasure.
The main aim of this paper is to take a closer look at both the philosophical and religious presumptions upon which the medieval concept of curiosity was premised. Such an enterprise needs to go back to Aristotle in order to fully comprehend the limitations for curiosity introduced by St. Augustine in his City of God and developed by such medieval thinkers as Isidore of Seville and Thomas of Aquinas. These conceptions will be analysed in reference to Foucauldian archeology of knowledge. Much attention should be paid to the ideas of curiositas, admiratio and studiositas.
Perception of otherness in the Chronikè Diéghesis of Niketas Choniates (c.1155-1217)
Marica COSTIGLIOLO
Original title: Percezione dell’alterità nell’opera Chronikè Diéghesis di Niceta Coniata (c.1155-1217)
Published in Intercultural Mediterranean
Keywords: Byzantium, Mediterranean, Niketas Choniates, Otherness.
Language:
The Mediterranean and Byzantium are crucial for understanding the cultural interactions between different peoples and different traditions. In this paper I will examine the work Chronikè Diéghesis by Niketas Choniates (c. 1155-1217) to highlight the profound cultural exchange in the Eastern Empire. These exchanges occurred in the most disparate ways, and with trade and military apparatus. Therefore, I will trace a theoretical paradigm for the analysis of otherness, throughout the works of contemporary philosophers, to highlight the salient characteristics of Chronikè Diéghesis in relation to the perception of cultural difference.
