“Meanings exist in the chest of people, are conceived in their minds, harboured in their souls, connected with their ideas, brought about by their thoughts, are invisible and secret, remote and savage, concealed and hidden, […]. Making the meaning apparent corresponds to the lucidity of the sign and the suitability of the indication, […]. The more the sign is evident and plain and the indication conspicuous (abyan) and bright, the more it is beneficial and useful. A clear sign of the secret meaning: that is conspicuousness (bayān).”

Abū ʿUthmān al-Jāḥiẓ, al-Bayān wa-l-tabyīn I: 75

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Our fascination is philosophy of language. Our aim is to explore theories of language in the lands of the Middle East, across the disciplines, and across the ages but, particularly, in the pre-colonial era. By means of thorough doctrinal analyses and contextual studies we seek to disclose the conceptual riches harbored by literary, linguistic, theological, juridical, Aristotelian, etc., treatises explicitly dedicated to or, in some other way, addressing the problematic triangle of language, thought, and reality. In addition to our publications, our activities consist in a regular online colloquium, λογοσ⁺, as well as workshops and conferences.

New Event Series

Philosophies in the Islamic World, then and now

In collaboration with the Scholarly Network Philosophy in the Modern Islamic World

Despite an increase in research in the field, philosophy in the Islamic World is still largely studied as a historical phenomenon, with its study geographically limited to Middle East area studies. However, philosophical thought originating from the Islamic world is not restricted to the past nor exclusive to a particular region, and it is not disconnected from other intellectual traditions.

To promote a genuine encounter between different perspectives on various currents of Philosophy in the Islamic World, this lecture series aims to create a space for scholars and philosophers from Japan, Iran, Lebanon and Germany to present their thoughts and to engage in a transcultural, multifocal dialogue on a specific topic in the field. By bringing together perspectives from and on different regions, epochs, and research approaches, the series seeks to highlight pathways of re-reading Islamic intellectual traditions through the lens of new questions and challenges, exposing hidden potentialities and foregrounding its contemporaneity.