Faces of UNC Asheville

Gordon Wilson

Philosophy professor Gordon Wilson doesn’t have much spare time these days as senior editor of the Latin texts of medieval philosopher Henry of Ghent, a 45-volume project under the auspices of Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Sixteen volumes have been published (four of them his), nine more are under way, and the remaining 20 will be assigned to scholars around the world. Wilson’s task is to supervise the research and read the translations of each team member.

“The editing of these medieval Latin texts requires going back to the original manuscripts, and the difficulty is that in the Middle Ages, scholars used a Latin shorthand,” he said. “This project attempts to reconstruct an important text by an influential author by going back to the manuscripts, in the tradition of the great humanists, and humanities research is at the heart of the liberal arts education at UNC Asheville.”

Wilson also teaches Philosophy and Humanities courses, chairs the Philosophy Department, and organizes the Philosophy Department Lecture Series at the UNC Asheville Kellogg Center in Hendersonville. He joined the faculty in 1997 after teaching at Xavier University in his native New Orleans.