Alexander Fidora
Alexander Fidora Riera (Offenbach, 1975), is a Catalan Professor of German origin. He is ICREA Research Professor of Philosophy and Medieval studies at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).
Education
He obtained his Ph. D. in 2003 at the Department of Philosophy at Frankfurt University with a thesis on Dominicus Gundissalinus and 12th century epistemology. During the period 2003-2006, he directed in Frankfurt, together with Matthias Lutz-Bachmann, a research project on the history of philosophy during the 12th-14th centuries in the Collaborative Research Center from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) “Wissenskultur und gesellschaftlicher Wandel”.[1]
Teaching
Until 2006, Alexander Fidora taught in the Philosophy Departament at Frankfurt University. In 2006, Alexander Fidora became Research Professor in the Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA-Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies) in the Departament of Antiquity and Medieval Sciences of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). He has been guest teacher in the University of Saint Louis (2004 and 2007), the Panamerican University/México D.F (2008) and the University of Frankfurt (2023).[2]
Research
Alexander Fidora's research deals with the intercultural and interreligious dimension of medieval thought. He focuses on the influence of Arab philosophy on medieval epistemology, the translation of the Talmud into Latin and its influence, as well as the works of Medieval Catalan authors such as Arnau de Vilanova, Ramon Llull[3] or Francesc Eiximenis. Among others, he has directed two research projects of the European Research Council (ERC) “Latin Philosophy into Hebrew” (2008-2012) and “The Latin Talmud” (2014-2019).[4]
Fidora has been a fellow in the Käte-Hamburger-Kolleg “Fate and Prognostication” at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (2012 and 2014) and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania (2013). He has been president of the Sociedad de Filosofía Medieval (SOFIME-Society of Medieval Philosophy, 2011-2016)[5] and vice-president of the Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM-International Society for the Study of Medieval Philosophy, 2017-2022).
He is (co)editor of several book series, such as “Bibliotheca Philosophorum Medii Aevi Cataloniae” (Obrador Edèndum), “Herders Bibliothek der Philosophie des Mittelalters” (Herder) o “Katalanische Literatur des Mittelalters” (Lit/Barcino).[6]
Since 2017, he is a member of the Academia Europaea[7].
Awards
For his researches on medieval thought, Fidora has received the following awards:
- Catalonia Internacional Prize (Barcelona, 2011).[8]
- Samuel Toledano Prize (Jerusalem, 2012).[9]
- Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize (Bonn, 2022).[10][11]
Publications (selection)
- Raimundus Lullus: Ars brevis (lateinisch-deutsch), edition and translation into German by A. Fidora, Hamburg: Felix Meiner (Philosophische Bibliothek 518), 1999. (in Latin) (in German)
- Die Wissenschaftstheorie des Dominicus Gundissalinus – Voraussetzungen und Konsequenzen des zweiten Anfangs der aristotelischen Philosophie im 12. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2003. (in German)
- A. Akasoy & A. Fidora (eds.), The Arabic Version of the ‘Nicomachean Ethics’, with an Introduction and Annotated Translation by Douglas M. Dunlop, Leiden/Boston: Brill (ASL 17), 2005. (in English)
- A Fidora & J. E. Rubio (eds.), Raimundus Lullus. An Introduction to his Life, Works and Thought, Turnhout: Brepols (CCCM 214, SL II), 2008. (in English)
- Vicent Ferrer, De unitate universalis – Ma’amar nikhbad ba-kolel, edition and translation into Catalan and English by A. Fidora & M. Zonta, Santa Coloma de Queralt/Barcelona: Obrador Edèndum/UAB/URV (BPhMAC 1), 2010. (in Hebrew) (in Latin) (in Catalan) (in English)
- A. Fidora, H. Hames & Y. Schwartz (eds.), Latin-into-Hebrew: Texts in Contexts, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2013. (in English)
- Guiu Terrena, Confutatio errorum quorundam magistrorum, edition and translation into Catalan and English by A. Fidora, A. Blasco & C. López Alcalde, Santa Coloma de Queralt/Barcelona: IEC/Obrador Edèndum/UAB/URV (BPhMAC 3), 2014. (in Latin) (in Catalan) (in English)
- Arnau de Vilanova: Über den Antichrist und die Reform der Christenheit, translation into German by A. Fidora, Barcelona/Münster i. W.: Barcino/Lit, 2015. (in German)
- G. Hasselhoff & A. Fidora (eds.), Ramon Martí’s Pugio fidei: Studies and Texts, Santa Coloma de Queralt: Obrador Edèndum, 2017. (in Latin) (in English)
- A. Fidora & Hasselhoff (eds.), The Talmud in Dispute During the High Middle Ages, Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions de la UAB, 2019. (in English)
- A. Fidora, Albertus Magnus und der Talmud (Lectio Albertina 20), Münster i. W.: Aschendorff Verlag, 2020. (in German)
- Extractiones de Talmud per ordinem thematicum, ed. U. Cecini, Ó. de la Cruz, A. Fidora & I. Lampurlanés (CCCM 291A), Turnhout: Brepols, 2021. (in Latin) (in English)[12]
- Francesc Eiximenis: Die Regierung des Gemeinwesens (katalanisch-deutsch), edition and translation into German by A. Fidora , Freiburg i. Br.: Herder (HBPhMA 60), 2024. (in Catalan) (in German)
References
- ^ Information about this project on the website of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. (in German)
- ^ News about Alexander Fidora's teaching activity in the University of Frankfurt during the school year 2022-2023.
- ^ Alexander Fidora as Ramon Llull's translator into German on the Ramon Llull Institute website. (in Catalan)
- ^ Explanation of the Latin Talmud project in UAB website.
- ^ Members of the Board of Directors of SOFIME. (in Spanish)
- ^ Editorial Board of the Bibliotheca Philosophorum Medii Aevi Cataloniae. (in Catalan)
- ^ Alexander Fidora's section on the Academia Europaea website.
- ^ Interview in TV3 (Catalan TV) after receiving this award. (in Catalan)
- ^ News about that on the Israel Ambassy in Spain website. (in Spanish)
- ^ News about that on the UAB website (in Catalan)
- ^ News about that on the University of Frankfurt website.
- ^ News about its publication on the UAB website. (in English)
External links
- Alexander Fidora's section on the UAB website. (in Catalan)
- Alexander Fidora's section on the ICREA website (in English)
- 1975 births
- 20th-century Catalan people
- 21st-century Catalan people
- Germans
- Goethe University Frankfurt alumni
- Academic staff of the Autonomous University of Barcelona
- Scholars of medieval philosophy
- German medievalists
- Historians of the medieval Islamic world
- Historians of Jews and Judaism
- German epistemologists
- German philosophers of science
- 21st-century German translators
- Translators from Catalonia
- Translators from Catalan
- Latin–Catalan translators
- Latin–English translators
- Latin-German translators
- Translators of philosophy