Paracelsus
Hiro HIRAI
Concept of Seeds in the Mineralogy and Cosmogony of
Paracelsus
The concept of seeds of Paracelsus is an important contribution to Renaissance matter theories. Unlike the alchemical notion of metallic seeds, it has a strong Christian orientation, based on a particular interpretation of the biblical Creation story. It is in this cosmogonical aspect that Paracelsian seeds are more akin to the seminal reasons of Saint Augustine than to the logoi spermatikoi of the Stoics or Plotinus. The present study examines the Augustinian backgrounds of this Paracelsian concept and Marsilio Ficino’s intermediary role in its genesis.
1. Introduction
2. Logoi spermatikoi in the Stoics,
Plotinus and Augustine
3. Concept of seeds in the mineralogy of Paracelsus
4. Seeds in the Paracelsian interpretation of Genesis
5.
The intermediate role of Marsilio Ficino
6. Conclusion
French Version
Les logoi spermatikoi et le
concept de semence
dans la minéralogie et la cosmogonie
de Paracelse
Revue d’histoire des sciences
Présence de la physique stoïcienne dans la philosophie naturelle des
seizième et dix-septième siècles
1.
Introduction : la doctrine des logoi
spermatikoi
2. Le
principe séminal chez les Stoïciens, Plotin et Augustin
3. Le concept
de semence dans la minéralogie de Paracelse
4. Les
semences dans l’interprétation paracelsienne de la Genèse
5. Le rôle
intermédiaire de Marsile Ficin
6. Conclusion