Description
A number of epic texts of the late 12th and 13th centuries contain representations of automatically functioning objects. The research project focusing on these objects covers two aspects that have not yet been studied consistently and in a combined manner.
(1) A new comparative systematization of automatic motives does without the usual mixing of “really” existing automats and motif series in texts and images, which is usually applied in literature sciences and in the analysis of history of the own discipline e.g. by kybernetics or informatics. On this basis, it is proved that the automatic motifs are a constitutive factor of production strategies of a number of texts and have structural relevance.
(2) The automats are removed from the “miraculous” and magic, their previous location in research, and reevaluated as (narrative) elements of a technological discourse in the High Middle Ages. As many textual automats are composed of programmed units and artificial systems replacing human thinking and action capabilities, it is assumed that the automatic motifs correspond to the conception of artificial intelligence. This results in an awareness- and mentality-historical and cultural-anthropological view that does not only focus on a textual motif, but also on the metaliterary subject and its cognitive and imaginative capacities. The technological discourse in the Middle Ages takes place in the discussion of knowledge orders in monastic tradition and of epistemological systematization in particular of the artes mechanicae and extend from the integration of knowledge from foreign cultural areas to achievements in crafts and technologies and the response to resulting social and economic changes.
Partners:
Institute of Literature Science – Dr. Simone Finkele
Contact Partner: Dr. Simone Finkele
Duration: 2010 - 2013
