The ERC grant of €1,992,643 (2018-2023) will enable Dr Calma and his team of researchers in UCD to show the ways in which ideas drawing from the Pagan Hellenic philosophical school of Neoplatonism (in particular a fifth century text by Proclus called Elements of Theology) influenced the history of rationality in the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam). By showing the connections between the original Greek text and the work of Arabic scholars in ninth century Baghdad, the Byzantine authors of the twelfth century, the Latin scholars at the University of Krakow in the fifteenth century at the time of Copernicus, and the Italian Renaissance of Marsilio Ficino, the project aims to reassess the connections between philosophical thinking across different historical periods and cultural traditions.

Dr Calma’s appointment  will ensure the continued strength of UCD in a field where there had been a long tradition of scholarship and research excellence. The activities of Dr Calma and his team, with their focus on the transnational impact and legacies of Neoplatonic thought across medieval Middle East and Europe, re-affirms UCD’s commitment to excellence in this  internationally significant field.

Dragos Calma is a historian of Western philosophy of the medieval period, with particular strength in metaphysics, theories of the soul and paleography. He studied philosophy at the University “Babes-Bolyai” in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (BA in 2001), at the École normale supérieure, Paris (2001-2003) at the University Panthéon-Sorbonne (MA in 2002) and University of Sorbonne (MPhil in 2003, PhD in 2008). Prior to joining the UCD School of Philosophy, he has held fellowships at the University of Sorbonne (the Fritz Thyssen Foundation), the Warburg Institute (the A.W. Mellon Foundation), the University of Bonn (the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) and the University of Cambridge (the British Academy and the Royal Society). He has directed major research grants awarded by the Romanian National Council at the University “Babes-Bolyai” (2011-2016) and the French National Research Agency at the École pratique des hautes études (2013-2017). For his previous work on Medieval Neoplatonism he was awarded the Friederich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2018).

Dr Calma is the author of Études sur le premier siècle de l’averroïsme latin. Approches et textes inédits (Turnhout, Brepols, 2011) and Le poids de la citation. Étude sur les sources arabes et grecques dans l'œuvre de Dietrich de Freiberg (Fribourg, Academic Press 2010). He edited or co-edited seven volumes, most recently (with Z. Kaluza) Regards sur les traditions philosophiques (XIIe-XVIe siècles),  (Leuven University Press, 2017). He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and book chapters, most recently 'Adam of Bocfeld or Roger Bacon? New Remarks on a Commentary on the Book of Causes', Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales, 2018.