"The grant means a lot to me and is a great recognition. This gives me the opportunity to immerse myself in an ambitious project for the next five years," says Thomas Kjeller Johansen, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oslo (UiO).
He has received the European Research Council's (ERC) prestigious Advanced Grant for the project “MatNat: The Mathematization of Nature – The Origin of Mathematical Physics in Plato and Early Pythagoreanism”.
"Such a project does not come about on its own. It comes as a result of the work of an entire academic community. We work closely together to develop good project proposals," he adds.
Diving into the sources
How can mathematics, which deals with the necessary, unchangeable, and abstract, account for the natural world, which is contingent, changeable, and perceptible? This is a mystery that still occupies philosophers today.
The project will provide a new understanding of the origins of the mathematical world view. It takes us back to ancient philosophy, the Pythagoreans, Plato, and his school, the Academy. It was indeed Plato who, under the influence of the Pythagoreans, for the first time provided a systematic mathematical account of the world's order and offered an answer to "the mystery".
"No one has so far examined the Pythagoreans and Plato in-depth from this perspective. The project will provide important historical insight and understanding of the Platonic view of nature that inspired Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler," the philosophy professor points out.
Such an investigation was not possible before, but new advances in the research on sources now makes the MatNat project both achievable and relevant.
A boost for the study of ancient philosophy
"I am very pleased to congratulate Thomas Kjeller Johansen on this grant. It is a great recognition of his work, but also of the strong research environment in ancient philosophy that we have cultivated at the University of Oslo over time," says Mathilde Skoie, Dean of Research at the Faculty of Humanities.
Kjeller Johansen will be joined by a group of researchers who will collaborate on the project. Three postdoctoral fellows and two PhD candidates will be hired.
"This project will strengthen the research environment in ancient philosophy here at the university and provide a boost for the study of Plato and the philosophers around him," concludes Kjeller Johansen.
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