Lecture: Michael Engel

Abstract
The talk will focus on a group of manuscripts containing the Hebrew version of Averroes' Middle Commentary on De Generatione et Corruptione (MCDG). These manuscripts feature glosses added in the margins during the 14th century, likely around the time the treatise was translated into Hebrew. Later, in Northern Italy, at least two scribes incorporated these glosses into the main text, each employing different techniques in doing so. Following the presentation of my research and methodology, I will argue for the importance of closely examining the glosses that accompany the body of the text in Hebrew philosophical manuscripts. As the study demonstrates, the glosses are not only indispensable for our understanding of the reception history. At times-as in the case of the MCDG-they also reflect readings that are more faithful to the original Arabic than any of the "authorized" variants established by modern editors.

Michael Engel is Associate Professor at the Hochschule für Jüdische Studien in Heidelberg. He works on MedievalJewish Philosophy and philosophical translations from Hebrew into Latin. Pro[ Engel is the author of a monograph on Elijah Del Medigo (Bloomsbury 201 7) and more than a dozen articles which concern medieval psychology, physics, metaphysics, and philosophical terminology. He is currently the Principal Investigator of a DFG-funded research project concerning the migration of philosophical material from Provence to Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries.