Organisiert von Prof. Dr. Anne Eusterschulte (Freie Universität Berlin), Dr. Cecilia Muratori (Università di Pavia) und Dr. Antje Wittstock (Freie Universität Berlin)

‘Mystics’ rarely defined themselves as such. Yet, the label of ‘mystic’ became very popular in the 19th century, when it was broadly used in the new genre of the ‘history of philosophy’. For instance, Hegel famously classified mysticism as a branch of scholasticism which daringly combined Church dogmas with philosophical speculation. Sometimes treated with suspicion (e.g. by W.G. Tennemann), and sometimes with appreciation (e.g. Franz von Baader), the concept of mysticism became an established historiographical category. At least since Karl Rosenkranz, who was the first to use the expression ‘German Mysticism’, mystics have also been grouped according to an alleged national and religious character.

This conference is devoted to exploring understandings of mysticism, starting from issues of historiography and categorisation, including from an international perspective. We ask: How do ‘mystics’ feature in histories of philosophy, and in accounts of intellectual and religious developments? Why have some thinkers been grouped together and labeled as ‘mystics’? How did national ‘mystical’ traditions crystallise in historiographical accounts? And finally, how did ‘mystics’ define themselves, and what alternative historiographical accounts might be constructed on the basis of the mystics’ self portraits? The aim of the conference is a critical reconsideration of ‘mysticism’, which brings attention to the problematic success of this historiographical category, and ultimately poses the question of its relationship with philosophical thought.