Sarah Marie Leitenberger

Headshot

Ph.D. Student, Italian Studies

Sarah Marie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and a Research Master’s degree in Philosophy with a major in Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Philosophy from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In her time at KU Leuven’s Institute of Philosophy, she was the Research Master students’ representative, and organized both the 2023 Graduate Student Conference and a roundtable for Research Master students featuring some of the Institute’s doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers, and professors.

In June 2024, she presented a paper at the 11th Congress of the International Christine de Pizan Society held at the universities of Lausanne and Genève, analyzing Christine’s position on warfare and the role of women in it, focusing on Jehanne d’Arc.

In the same month, she defended her Research Master thesis entitled Secret Affairs: Machiavelli, The Mandrake, and the Question of Recognition. Previously, she had presented the first part of her thesis at the winter school Philosophy and Civic Engagement in the Italian Traditions organized by the universities of Lyon, Trento, and Leuven, which took place in the Novacella Abbey in February 2024.

Her research interests converge around the Late Medieval and Renaissance period, primarily but not exclusively analyzing political thought and various authors’, such as Christine de Pizan and Niccolò Machiavelli’s, uses of literary and philosophical sources, and their motivations and strategies for intervening in their contemporary political circumstances from the field of letters. Her current main research goal is to further contextualize these topics within Italian history, thought, and literature.

She is also interested in the importance of Islamic thinkers for Late Medieval and Renaissance philosophers. In March 2023, she presented a paper on the influence of Ibn Sīnā’s theories of science, cognition, and prophecy on Thomas Aquinas at the Graduate Student Conference of Marquette University.

She is also delving into the field of digital humanities, particularly concerning its applications in interdisciplinary approaches to her research questions and in academic teaching. 

Sarah Marie is an alumna of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, which supported her Bachelor and Research Master studies, and a section editor of Mediterranea:

https://journals.uco.es/index.php/mediterranea/index

For Mediterranea’s 2024 issue, she has also authored a review on Andreas Speer’s 1000 Jahre Philosophie. Ein anderer Blick auf die Philosophie des ‘Mittelalters.’ Brill, Boston 2023.

ISBN: 9783957432834 (paperback) 9783969752838 (E-Book)

https://journals.uco.es/mediterranea/article/view/16642