Préface

Abstract

This thematic issue is the first publication of a research project which aims to study the contribution of Bessarion and his circle to the science of the Renaissance, as knowledge inscribed in a broader philosophical perspective. We intend to constitute a multidisciplinary network which will organize its work around thematic workshops, resulting in collective volumes and collections of translated and commented texts. This issue is the result of the first workshop of this network, which took place in Venice, in 2017. The articles present material and conceptual aspects of the context in which Bessarion acted, the revival of Neoplatonism in Italy with the arrival of Byzantine scholars, the astronomical context of Byzantine Humanism, the scientific content of Bessarion’s library, and its influence on French philosophers. A bibliography on Bessarion and his historical and cultural background closes the issue.