Gli indici della prima modernità come strumento storiografico: questioni preliminari metodologiche e pratiche

The general purpose of this contribution is to thematize, starting from a set of methodological and practical issues, a possible line of investigation concerning the heuristics and the terminological heritage contained in the indices (indices rerum) of philosophical works (mainly of medium and large format) of the early modernity, whether they are great scholastic treatises or texts of natural philosophy, theoretical medicine (since at that time there was no philosophy of medicine, but there was a significant academic competition between philosophers and doctors): a field of research that could be extremely fruitful but which presents significant difficulties on both of the aforementioned levels. The focus of the contribution, which could join others of similar approach in a panel, is on indexes as dynamic access keys to content and as possible 'conceptual infrastructures' for interoperability.