:Andreas Libavius and the Transformation of Alchemy: Separating Chemical Cultures with Polemical Fire
2008; Oxford University Press; Volume: 113; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1086/ahr.113.5.1593
ISSN1937-5239
Autores Tópico(s)History of Science and Natural History
ResumoAndreas Libavius (ca. 1550–1616), the German Lutheran pedagogue and the author of one of the first alchemical textbooks, the Alchemia (1597), was full of spleen. He raged against Paracelsians, Rosicrucians, the Paris Faculty of Medicine, and medical quacks. In many lengthy tomes, he castigated those he considered the enemies of Aristotelian authority and traditional dialectical learning. Nevertheless, Libavius was willing to integrate the experimental practices of artisans, aspects of Lullian philosophy, and certain kinds of occult notions into his defense of alchemy. Libavius aimed to secure a place for alchemy among the traditional arts and sciences, not only establishing the status of the discipline but also incorporating it into the university curriculum. For Libavius, the proper kind of disputation, based on ancient learning, would produce a moral individual. But like many humanists before him, his polemics often became vitriolic as he castigated many of his fellow alchemists and students of nature.
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