Editors’ foreword

The DR2 Working Papers are an outgrowth of the activities of the DR2 research group (“Distant Reading and Data-Driven Research in the History of Philosophy”), devoted to the application of quantitative methods to the history of philosophy and the history of ideas. The series is designed in the form of working papers, with the aim of creating a showcase in which distant reading and data-driven research can fulfil their vocation as a collective and experimental enterprise, with its focus on mistakes, false hypotheses and conjectures, methodological lacunas and blind alleys, no less than on positive and solid results and discoveries. Such will be the requirements for all papers appearing in this series: a frank discussion of both strengths and shortcomings, a thorough and honest description of the tools and procedures, and a problematic attitude towards one’s results and stances.