GRK 1876: Early Concepts of Man and Nature: Universal, Local, Borrowed

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The aim of the GRK is to grasp concepts of man and nature and their beginnings in an exemplary way, focusing on an intra-cultural as well as a trans-cultural understanding and taking textual, iconic and material sources as a starting point. These sources come from North- East Africa, the Near East and Europe and cover a span from 100.000 BC to Medieval times. To achieve that aim, four overlapping main fields of research have been defined:A) Concepts of primary states of the cosmos and primary elements, cosmogony and theend of the worldB) Concepts of natural phenomena, natural forces and natural catastrophesC) Concepts of flora, fauna and natural surroundingsD) Concepts of the human body, sickness, healing and death.The GRK offers the opportunity to produce relevant results within these four fields by identifying, analyzing and contextualizing single concepts and afterwards discussing and verifying them in an interdisciplinary environment and combining them to gain overarching syntheses. During this process, (while we assume a broad understanding of "concept" as a theoretical and methodological starting point) specific questions will be tackled about the kinds, communication and development of such concepts as well as about the shaping of concepts in terms of time, literary genus, media used for transmission, language, iconography, material, socio-cultural environment, and individual influences. Comparing concepts within a culture and beyond will lead to manifold innovative insights regarding universality, specificity and transmission. By asking more generally for the reasons for universality, specificity and transmission we will generate new hypotheses about if and how anthropological factors have also influenced early concepts of man and nature. The GRK supports the process of research by a broad and structured program, which is rooted in the single disciplines but also includes interdisciplinary formats like discussion in a plenum, workshops and transdisciplinary conferences. It supplies the doctoral candidates with intense support regarding content and method, an excellent scientific environment in Mainz (e.g. the established workshops "Alte Medizin" and "Antike Naturwissenschaften und ihre Rezeption", the research-center "Historische Kulturwissenschaften", and the "Römisch-Germanische Zentralmuseum"), renowned national and international partners and well-structured opportunities for advanced training.