This chapter discusses methodological issues concerning the most extensive research on this era, the massive ‘Jena Project’ directed by Dieter Henrich (who, along with Hans-Georg Gadamer, was one of Manfred Frank's teachers). After decades of very productive traditional scholarship on Kant and Hegel, Henrich turned to devoting most of his energy to guiding a detailed exploration of the various ‘constellations’ out of which the best-known German philosophies developed. The methodology of the Jena Project reflects three central features of the study of constellations in general: it emphasized groups, rather than isolated individuals, it worked to identify stars of enduring significance, and it aimed to discern patterns that are at first hidden.
Keywords: Jena Project, Dieter Henrich, constellation research, Copernicanism