The ERC-funded project „Traces de la Verité: the reappropriation of ancient wisdom in early modern natural philosophy“ aka VERITRACE (for which see https://veritrace.eu) is part of a larger movement within the humanities to provide more robust conclusions drawn from large datasets. The project makes use of several large digital collections of Renaissance and early modern printed books to try understand how the idea of a „prisca sapientia“ and its associated literature influenced early modern natural philosophy. We know Copernicus, Kepler, Bacon, Newton, and many other researchers were deeply interested in works like the „Corpus Hermeticum“ and the „Chaldean Oracles“, yet we have no idea what it is exactly that they took from these writings. The research performed as part of VERITRACE may very well confirm existing conclusions in the field but then supported with abundant, reliable data, provide alternative explanations for which clear support exists, or indeed overthrow existing opinion. This talk will introduce in more depth the research vision underlying data driven humanities in general and VERITRACE in particular.

Invitation to download here.