Constantin Fasolt

Constantin Fasolt (born 1951), is an influential historian and the Karl J. Weintraub Emeritus Professor of Medieval and Early Modern European History at the University of Chicago, who specializes in the development and significance of historical thought.

Constantin Fasolt was born in Germany and attended the Beethoven-Gymnasium in Bonn from 1961 to 1969. After two years of military service, Fasolt enrolled at the University of Bonn to study philosophy and medieval history. He later studied with Kantian philosopher Dieter Henrich, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Michael Theunissen and Ernst Tugendhat at the University of Heidelberg. Fasolt was especially impressed by Tugendhat, and later remarked that "if I had met him [Tugendhat] as my first teacher, I could have stayed in philosophy." However, by that time Fasolt had grown disillusioned with German universities, which he described as "overcrowded" and "undemanding," and had decided to pursue his academic career in the United States.

In 1975, Fasolt moved to the United States to enroll at Columbia University for graduate studies in medieval history under the supervision of John Mundy. In 1981, he graduated from Columbia, earning a Ph.D. with distinction. He taught there as a Lecturer in History from 1981 to 1983.

In 1983 he moved to Chicago to take a position as an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 1990, and to Professor in 1999.

He came to prominence at the University of Chicago through his ground-breaking work in conciliar theory (Council and Hierarchy) and historiography (The Limits of History). As an administrator, he has served as chairman of numerous academic committees at the University, culminating in his appointment as Master of the Social Sciences Collegiate Division (2005-2008).

He has been awarded grants from numerous organizations, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Max-Planck-Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the American Philosophical Society.