Its just magic!

Dr. Bernd-Christian Otto, historian and scholar of religious studies at the Max-Weber-Kolleg authored a magical book: “Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe. The Clandestine Trade in Illegal Book Collections“

Dr. Bernd-Christian Otto, historian and scholar of religious study with emphasis on the field of magic at the Max-Weber-Kolleg, together with Daniel Bellingradt (FAU Erlangen) has made a magnificent discovery: in the University Library of Leipzig they detected a substantial (10 000 pages) handwritten collection on magic, spells and rituals from late 17^th century. This could be one of the most important discoveries of handwritings by magician-savants of continental Europe of this time period. The handwritings consist of 140 manuscripts, influenced from Christian, but also Jewish and Muslim tradition – from a time period where the magical tradition is almost unexplored. While most of the texts can be dated to the late middle age and early modern age, the oldest among them is approximately 1600 years old. The discovery of the manuscripts is even more incredible when considering that such writings and described practices where illegal and sentenced.

The analysis of the discovered collection will be released in English language on September 17^th titled „Magical Manuscripts in Early Modern Europe. The Clandestine Trade in Illegal Book Collections“ and published by Palgrave MacMillan. 

https://www.amazon.de/Magical-Manuscripts-Early-Modern-Europe/dp/3319595245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503650552&sr=8-1&keywords=bernd-christian+otto

Turvallista matkaa Suomeen ("Good trip to Finland"), Dr. Cuttica: Junior Fellow is leaving the Max-Weber-Kolleg with a workshop on the history of ideas in England

Dr. Cesare Cuttica, a historian and philosopher who has studied and worked at various institutions in Europe and the USA, is leaving after a year in the COFUND program of the Max-Weber-Kolleg Erfurt, to study at the Helsinki University of Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, where he will continue his research on the history of ideas.

During the last year his main research focus laid on the anti-democratic movements of the early modern age "Fighting the Monstrous 'Many-Headed Multitude': Anti-Democracy in Early Modern England 1558-1642". On the 18^th and 19^th July together wirh Prof. Markku Peltonen (Helsinki) he organized a workshop on this topic at the Max-Weber-Kolleg. Under the title "Democracy and Anti-Democracy in Early Modern England 1603-1689", Cuttica had invited 14 international researchers to Erfurt to discuss the topic and engage in research-networking. Cuttica writes: The conference facilitated international cooperation between the University of Erfurt and such institutions   as   the   University of Helsinki;   it   created  the  opportunity  for   Erfurt-based professors, researchers, and students to develop networks of professional collaboration with colleagues working in the  same fields as  well  as to establish  new collaborative projects between faculty-members and postgraduate students at Erfurt and partners in the UK, the US, Finland, France and the United Arab Emirates.” The workshop was organized in collaboration with the European Society for the History of Political Thought (https://europoliticalthought.wordpress.com/), a conference paper for a British publicher is in Progerss with the provisional title The Troubled Journey of Democracy in Early Modern England.

Cesare Cuttica's 12-month research stay at the Max Weber College was enabled by a Fellowship within the framework of the MWF COFUND Fellowship Program, financed by the Maria Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the European Framework Program for Research and Innovation, and co-financed by Horizon. Through the program, which runs until 2020, up to ten international fellows come to Erfurt every year and make an important contribution to the internationalization of research at the Erfurt Science Center.

Publication of the Japanese translation of "Hegel, Institutions and Economics: Performing the Social" by Carsten Herrmann-Pillath and Ivan Boldyrev.

Under the title the 'The Hegelian Turn in Modern Economics', the Japanese translation has just been published by the well-known NTT Publisher. On July 28^th in Kyoto a Symposion will be held in honor of the book, to which Professor Carsten Herrmann-Pillath was personally invited. He is a Fellow for Economics at the Max Weber College for Cultural and Social Science Studies at the University of Erfurt.

The book deals with the theoretical foundations of modern economics, especially Behavioral Economics and Neuroeconomics, and their consequences for economic-ethics and economic-policy issues.

For this purpose the book makes use of essential insights into the philosophy of Hegel, as it is currently experiencing a renaissance, in conjunction with modern analytic philosophy and sociology. The concept of “institution” plays a key Role. The book also draws on the ideas of the late Japanese economist Masahiko Aoki, who died at the Stanford University in late 2015. In the years before his death, Carsten Herrmannn-Pillath was in intensive contact with him in order to develop an innovative economic theory of the institutions. Aoki had initiated the translation himself.

"The translation of this book, published in English, into Japanese will give further impetus to the international reception of institutional theoretical considerations and the analysis of the importance of performativity for the economic theory of Carsten Herrmann-Pillath." Prof. Dr. Dr. Hartmut Rosa, director of the Max-Weber-Kolleg.