Athanasius Kircher. Ars Magna Sciendi, In XII Libros Digesta, Qua Nova & Universali Methodo Per Artificiosum Combi...

Description

"The Categorization of All Knowledge..."

"Ars Magna Sciendi is Kircher's elaboration and adaptation of the 'Combinatoric Art' of Ramon Lull, the thirteenth-century Majorcan philosopher. Kircher attempts nothing less than the categorization of all knowledge under the nine ideal attributes or dignities of God. These attributes, he argues, are the superstructure of the universe, the pattern for all creation. The universe, if it is to be comprehended in toto, must be organized in the mind according to the same pattern. The modus operandi of the art is, therefore, to move, like Plato's dialectic, from universals to particulars. Kircher consequently designs a system and method for teaching all disciplines in the style of the encyclopedic movement. However, like Lull's Ars demonstrativa, the emphasis of Kircher's work is not pedagogical. Kircher advocates an ambitious scientific method, a type of logic applicable to all branches of learning, a method of finding truth. Much of the book applies the 'Combinatoric Art' to a vast variety of disciplines from theology to medicine to logic, rhetoric, and debate... The Ars Magna Sciendi represents the seventeenth-century search for a universal language that would allow scientists and philosophers to describe and circumscribe all knowledge into a unified system. The Lullian Art was at the center of the search. Philosophers realized then, as they do now, that common language is inadequate for discovering and conveying truth and that a language patterned after the basic structure of the universe could be the key to the exact ordering and verification of all knowledge. For the sake of facility and objectivity, words would have to be replaced by symbols or some type of notation." (Merrill, p.56).

Athanasius Kircher (1601-80), a learned philosopher and mathematician, entered the Society of Jesuits in 1618 and began to teach philosophy, mathematics, Hebrew and Syriac at the university of Würtzburg, followed by tenures at Avignon and finally Rome. Fascinated by origins and sources, especially with respect to linguistics, he was the first to recognize the relationship between Coptic and ancient Egyptian.

STCN 166902. Merrill 22. Sommervogel IV, 1066. Caillet 5771. Bibliotheca Esoterica 2380. Ferguson I, 467. De Backer I, 429-30. Clendening 10,17. Brunet III, 666. Neville I,722.

Kircher, Athanasius. Ars Magna Sciendi, In XII Libros Digesta, Qua Nova & Universali Methodo Per Artificiosum Combinationum contextum de omni re proposita plurimis & prope infinitis rationibus disputari, omniumque summaria qu¾dum cognitio comparari potest. Ad Augustissimum Rom. Imperatorem Leopoldum Primum, Justum, Pium, Felicem. Amsterdam: Apud Jannem Janssonium ˆ Waesberge, & Viduam Elizei Weyerstraet, 1669. Folio. *-2*4, A-3O4, 3P6. [16], 482, [10]pp. Full contemporary calf, rebacked with original spine laid over new, corners worn. Banded spine, gilt stamped decoration, title in gilt lettering. Red speckled edges. Light to moderate browning and foxing, with occasional dampstains. Repair work to three leaves, with no loss of text. Volvelle plate (fig. 4) supplied in fine facsimile on old paper. Extra engraved title to both volumes, volvelle on p 13 has parts in facsimile on old paper, engraved tree plate in volume two, and portrait of Emperor Leopold I on *12. 4 folding tables. First edition. "Un des bons ouvrages," - Caillet.
"Ars magna sciendi is Kircher's elaboration and adaptation of the 'Combinatoric Art' of Ramon Lull, the thirteenth-century Majorcan philosopher. Kircher attempts nothing less than the categorization of all knowledge under the nine ideal attributes or dignities of God. These attributes, he argues, are the superstructure of the universe, the pattern for all creation. The universe, if it is to be comprehended in toto , must be organized in the mind according to the same pattern. The modus operandi of the art is, therefore, to move, like Plato's dialectic, from universals to particulars. Kircher consequently designs a system and method for teaching all disciplines in the style of the encyclopedic movement. However, like Lull's Ars demonstrativa , the emphasis of Kircher's work is not pedagogical. Kircher advocates an ambitious scientific method, a type of logic applicable to all branches of learning, a method of finding truth. Much of the book applies the 'Combinatoric Art' to a vast variety of disciplines from theology to medicine to logic, rhetoric, and debate.
The Ars magna sciendi represents the seventeenth-century search for a universal language that would allow scientists and philosophers to describe and circumscribe all knowledge into a unified system. The Lullian Art was at the center of the search. Philosophers realized then, as they do now, that common language is inadequate for discovering and conveying truth and that a language patterned after the basic structure of the universe could be the key to the exact ordering and verification of all knowledge. For the sake of facility and objectivity, words would have to be replaced by symbols or some type of notation," - Merrill, p.56.
Athanasius Kircher (1601-80), a learned philosopher and mathematician, entered the Society of Jesuits in 1618 and began to teach philosophy, mathematics, Hebrew and Syriac at the university of WŸrtzburg, followed by tenures at Avignon and finally Rome. Fascinated by origins and sources, especially with respect to linguistics, he was the first to recognize the relationship between Coptic and ancient Egyptian. STCN 166902. Merrill 22. Sommervogel IV, 1066. Caillet 5771. Bibliotheca Esoterica 2380. Ferguson I, 467. De Backer I, 429-30. Clendening 10.17. Brunet III, 666.Neville I,722. Philosophy. Occult. Jesuits. Memory. Lull. Medicine. Science.