I am senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences, and a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of West Bohemia. I have published three monographs and several studies on Comenius, the metaphorics of the book, and the idea of a perfect language. I am presently researching early modern encyclopaedism and evolution of cognitive metaphors. More details here: http://komeniologie.flu.cas.cz/en/about-us/people/research-fellows/291-mgr-petr-pavlas-ph-d http://tome.flu.cas.cz Supervisors: Daniel Špelda, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann, Martin Mulsow, Michael-Thomas Liske, Vladimír Urbánek
The aim of this article is to re-examine the intellectual history of a principle central to seven... more The aim of this article is to re-examine the intellectual history of a principle central to seventeenth-century universal language projects. We call this principle ‘word as definition’. It is the requirement that every word in the dictionary of a new language should already be, by its shape, a definition of what it denotes: the root of the word would express the proximate genus and the affixes the specific difference. In Comenius, we find it first formulated in the Via lucis and later elaborated in the Panglottia manuscript. Besides the medieval and early modern mystical traditions, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld and Marin Mersenne are key figures in the process of its emergence. In this respect, Comenius plays a role in the link between the ‘continental’ and the British approach to the problem of language reform.
Johann Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komenský) war ein Bischof und Theologe der Brüder-Unität, des tsch... more Johann Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komenský) war ein Bischof und Theologe der Brüder-Unität, des tschechischen Zweigs der christlichen Reformation, aus dem in der zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts die erste tschechische Bibelübersetzung aus den biblischen Originalsprachen hervorging: die Kralitzer Bibel. So ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass Comenius’ Angelus pacis („Friedensengel “, 1667) mit biblischen Zitaten, Anspielungen und Interpretationen durchsetzt ist. Die Bibel ist die mit Abstand am häufigsten zitierte Autorität für die Thesen und Appelle des Autors. Als das geoffenbarte Wort Gottes, das von allen christlichen Konfessionen anerkannt wird, ist es der Bezugspunkt, an dem die meisten Argumente für die sofortige Beendigung des Zweiten Englisch-Niederländischen Krieges und ganz allgemein dafür, warum Frieden besser ist als Krieg, festgemacht werden können. In diesem Beitrag zeige ich sieben wichtige kognitive Metaphern des Angelus pacis auf, die auf biblischem Material basieren.
Pintnerová, Iveta - Pavlas, Petr. In the Footsteps of Patočka to the Cusan Echos in the Early Mo... more Pintnerová, Iveta - Pavlas, Petr. In the Footsteps of Patočka to the Cusan Echos in the Early Modern Vernacular Encyclopaedism: Comenius’ Theatrum universitatis rerum in Context. The article analyses in detail selected ideas from Theatrum universitatis rerum, a Czech-language universal encyclopaedia, probably written in Fulnek in 1616–1618, shortly after Comenius’ studies in Herborn and Heidelberg, and at the beginning of Comenius’ pastoral and pedagogical activity. The work was not completed and only a fragment of it is available to us today. The goal of the article is to identify and analyse those ideas from Theatrum whose possible and probable source of inspiration is Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), or the Cusan tradition. So far, Jan Patočka has dealt with the topic of the influence of Cusan ideas on Comenius’ Theatrum in the most detail. Therefore, his insights are an Ariadne’s thread for further elaboration also here.
In this article, I first reconsider the personal links between Comenius and Leibniz, searching fo... more In this article, I first reconsider the personal links between Comenius and Leibniz, searching for how Comenian texts and ideas may have reached Leibniz. For that reason, I outline a constellation of thinkers within Central European Protestantism, since a vast majority of the important intellectuals with some noteworthy link both to Comenius and Leibniz were based there. Second, I investigate more closely one particular intellectual link between Comenius and Leibniz, namely their common combinatorial standpoint, because the striking parallels, connections and similarities between Comenius’s and Leibniz’s ideas on combinatorics, universal language and relational metaphysics have been largely overlooked thus far.
Early modern encyclopaedism is generally known as a pedagogical
endeavour striving to achieve not... more Early modern encyclopaedism is generally known as a pedagogical endeavour striving to achieve not only universal access to scientific information and universal education, but also universal science and knowledge. Its intellectual-historical genealogy and historicaltheological background, however, deserve much more scholarly attention than they have received hitherto. This paper illuminates the intellectual sources of Herborn encyclopaedism in terms of some key cognitive metaphors from the field of Christian theology. I not only show some traces of Bonaventuran and Cusan philosophical theology in Herborn encyclopedism, but I also argue that this encyclopaedism must be contextualised according to theological loci, i.e. generation, incarnation of the Word, and deification (generatio, incarnatio Verbi, theosis).
The goal of this article is to detail the opposition to “Ramean tree” dichotomic divisions which ... more The goal of this article is to detail the opposition to “Ramean tree” dichotomic divisions which emerged in the age of swelling Antitrinitarianism, especially Socinianism. Scholars such as Bartholomaeus Keckermann, Jan Amos Komenský and Richard Baxter made a point of preferring the trichotomic to the dichotomic division of Petrus Ramus and the Ramist tradition. This paper tracks the origin of Komenský’s “universal triadism” as present in his book metaphorics and in his metaphysics. Komenský’s triadic book metaphorics (the notion of nature, human mind and Scripture as “the triple book of God”) has its source in late sixteenth-century Lutheran mysticism and theosophy, mediated perhaps by Heinrich Khunrath and, above all, by Johann Heinrich Alsted. Komenský’s metaphysics follows the same triadic pattern. What is more, Komenský illustrates both these domains by means of Ramist-like bracketed trees; regarding book metaphorics, clearly his sources are Khunrath and Alsted. Although inspirations from Lullus, Sabundus and Nicholas of Cusa are involved, the crucial role has to be ascribed to the influence of Lutheran mysticism and Alsted’s “Lullo-Ramism.”
This paper seeks to analyse and clarify a linguistic-eschatological aspect of Comenius’s language... more This paper seeks to analyse and clarify a linguistic-eschatological aspect of Comenius’s language project. First, it investigates hypotheses concerning the origin of language in the works of key figures in the language planning movement: Bacon, Mersenne, Comenius, Dalgarno and Wilkins. Second, it inquiries into their theological justifications for language planning and into the problem of cessationism. Third, it examines the dignity and role of the existing languages according to Comenius and focuses on the notion and goal of the new, perfect, ultimate language as imagined by him. Fourth, it elucidates Comenius’s idea of the final language through the prism of his biblical exegesis and his understanding of sacred history.
The article picks up the threads of especially Martin Mulsow’s 1990s research and describes the d... more The article picks up the threads of especially Martin Mulsow’s 1990s research and describes the distinctiveness of the “relational metaphysics of resemblance” in the middle of the seventeenth century. The late Renaissance metaphysical outlines, carried out in the Comenius circle, are characteristic for their relationality, accent on universal resemblance, providentialism, pansensism, sensualism, triadism – and also for their effort to define metaphysical terms properly. While Comenians share the last – and only the last – feature with Cartesians, they differ in the other features. Therefore, Cartesians and Comenians cannot come to terms in the issue of the proper definitions either. Quite on the contrary, they oppose each other on this issue. By means of Johann Clauberg’s criticism of Georg Ritschel and René Descartes’s only supposedly “mysterious” and “solipsist” second meditation, the article turns a Cartesian mirror to the Comenian metaphysical project. In its light, the definitions of Georg Ritschel, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld and Jan Amos Comenius turn out to be unacceptable for Cartesians (and also for Thomists and, in part, for Baconians). Despite their superficially Aristotelian-scholastic appearance, their content is notably Paracelsian-Campanellian (with a Timplerian foundation). Even though Comenian definitions of metaphysical terms had been refused and defeated by Cartesians, they experienced a second lifespan in their robust influence on Leibniz and Newton.
Apart from cabbalist and Lullist “philosophical combinatorics”, there is a tradition of mathemati... more Apart from cabbalist and Lullist “philosophical combinatorics”, there is a tradition of mathematical combinatorics connected with transposing letters (phones) from Cardano on. While Girolamo Cardano (1539) uses the combinations of letters as a more or less random illustration of the method of combinatorial calculations, Christopher Clavius (1570) more appropriately applies permutation and Daniel Schwenter (1636) thinks about putting all the gained “words” down. Paul Guldin (1641), moreover, enumerates the media and space needed for such an enterprise. The problem is, step by step, taken more and more seriously. Marin Mersenne and Jan Amos Comenius take this problem as a serious issue too. This study shows the influence of Marin Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (1636) on Jan Amos Comenius’s combinatorial approach to language planning. The influence could be either direct or indirect (perhaps via a hypothetical translation or abstract by Theodore Haak). However, there is no doubt that Comenius was acquainted with Mersenne’s project in detail. Comenius is the first thinker whose combinatorial calculations are a part of a treatise focused purely on general linguistic (Novissima linguarum methodus, 1648). Kircher’s Polygraphia nova et universalis appears in 1663, Leibniz’s Dissertatio de arte combinatoria in 1666, van Helmont’s Alphabeti vere naturalis Hebraici brevissima delineatio in 1667.
The study deals with Jan Patočka’s unfinished text “Transcendentalia and Categories” which is app... more The study deals with Jan Patočka’s unfinished text “Transcendentalia and Categories” which is appended in English translation as a supplement. First, the study confirms Patočka’s thesis on the origin of Comenius’s triadism in the thought of Nicholas of Cusa and, at the same time, on the original features of Comenius’s conception, namely his systematic, deductive order of triads. Secondly, it investigates who mediated Cusan ideas to Comenius. The most important of these mediators was Pinder; among the others can be counted Weigel, Arndt, Alsted and possibly Paracelsus too. Patočka even assumes that Comenius actually read some works of Cusa (e. g. De ludo globi) himself. Last but not least, the study extends the validity of Patočka’s thesis to the new finding regarding Comenius’s metaphor of “God’s three books”.
Jitse van der Meer and Richard Oosterhoff suggest that the unsuccessful Protestant attempt to mar... more Jitse van der Meer and Richard Oosterhoff suggest that the unsuccessful Protestant attempt to mark out the boundaries of allegorical biblical exegesis and to fix the meaning of scriptural passages caused the awareness of the imperfection of the verbal language. Therefore, early modern philosophers “turned to nature” and strived to find the perfect language in mathematics and logic. This hypothesis needs to be revised: already the entire Middle Ages had been aware of the corruptedness of the verbal language. The decisive impulse for the rise of the perfect language movement seems to be rather the doctrinal plurality and the confessional diversity following the Reformation, because of which there arose the need of argumentation by means of natural theology for the sake of persuasion of the heterodox party or finding of a doctrinal consent. To avoid logomachy, some early modern philosophers tried to develop the perfect and universal language. One of them was Jan Amos Comenius. The aim of the paper is to outline Comenius’s design of the real language (lingua realis) that represents one chapter from the early modern language planning. It tries to show how Comenius’s project – with its “logical purism”, “word as definition” program, combinatorial ambitions and the effort not to restore, but to create the perfect language – belongs to the early modern mathematizing thought. The possible mutual influence among the projects of Jan Amos Comenius, John Pell, Cheney Culpeper and Francis Lodwick is discussed. The paper is intended as a complement of Rhodri Lewis’s discoveries from the perspective of Comenius studies.
According to Peter Harrison's book The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science (1998... more According to Peter Harrison's book The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science (1998) modern science came into existence as a result of the emphasis of Protestants on the literal sense of the Scripture, their refusal of the earlier symbolic or allegorical interpretation, and their efforts at fixing the meaning of the biblical text in which each passage was to be ascribed a single and unique meaning. This article tries to summarize the most significant critiques of Harrison's hypothesis (by Kenneth Howell, Jiste van der Meer and Richard Oosterhoff) and to acknowledge their legitimacy. However, the alternative explanation of the emergence of modern science as a result of disputes over the biblical interpretation and the subsequent discovery of the ambiguous character of the ordinary verbal language is not fully satisfactory either.
In his rhetoric, Augustine’s metaphor of the “book of nature” works towards a full appreciation o... more In his rhetoric, Augustine’s metaphor of the “book of nature” works towards a full appreciation of the created world and the fight against gnosis. In Patrizi’s and Comenius’ use of this imagery, a similar tendency appears with respect to the human heart and intellect: Patrizi prefers the “book of the soul” to other human books, while Comenius even wishes to make its importance equal to both the Bible and Nature. This shift seems to be significant in the context of the Renaissance and the Early Modern Age, and culminates in Kant’s “Copernican turn”. The goal of this paper is to outline the history of the trope and to compare Patrizi’s and Comenius’ understanding of it.
Studia Comeniana et Historica, vol. 43 (2013), no. 89-90
The article compares two conceptions of perfect language originated in the 17th century. Whereas
... more The article compares two conceptions of perfect language originated in the 17th century. Whereas
for Johannes Amos Comenius the perfect language has to be desideratum of philosophical
research, for Francis Mercury van Helmont, on the contrary, the perfect language is a really existing
language, namely Hebrew. It is shown that both conceptions differ in their interpretation of
the concept „perfection“. Comenius connects perfection with universality, while van Helmont with
originality.
Like a tripod, this review article is “three-legged”, having three partial objectives. First, it ... more Like a tripod, this review article is “three-legged”, having three partial objectives. First, it provides a concise companion to the book under review. Second, it presents a critical reflection upon those elements of Hotson’s story which the reviewer finds particularly thought-provoking or controversial. Third, at the very end (Conclusion: Towards a History of Hope), the reviewer dares to add somewhat more personal ruminations and speculative contemplations regarding a historiography of and for the future.
The aim of this article is to re-examine the intellectual history of a principle central to seven... more The aim of this article is to re-examine the intellectual history of a principle central to seventeenth-century universal language projects. We call this principle ‘word as definition’. It is the requirement that every word in the dictionary of a new language should already be, by its shape, a definition of what it denotes: the root of the word would express the proximate genus and the affixes the specific difference. In Comenius, we find it first formulated in the Via lucis and later elaborated in the Panglottia manuscript. Besides the medieval and early modern mystical traditions, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld and Marin Mersenne are key figures in the process of its emergence. In this respect, Comenius plays a role in the link between the ‘continental’ and the British approach to the problem of language reform.
Johann Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komenský) war ein Bischof und Theologe der Brüder-Unität, des tsch... more Johann Amos Comenius (Jan Amos Komenský) war ein Bischof und Theologe der Brüder-Unität, des tschechischen Zweigs der christlichen Reformation, aus dem in der zweiten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts die erste tschechische Bibelübersetzung aus den biblischen Originalsprachen hervorging: die Kralitzer Bibel. So ist es nicht verwunderlich, dass Comenius’ Angelus pacis („Friedensengel “, 1667) mit biblischen Zitaten, Anspielungen und Interpretationen durchsetzt ist. Die Bibel ist die mit Abstand am häufigsten zitierte Autorität für die Thesen und Appelle des Autors. Als das geoffenbarte Wort Gottes, das von allen christlichen Konfessionen anerkannt wird, ist es der Bezugspunkt, an dem die meisten Argumente für die sofortige Beendigung des Zweiten Englisch-Niederländischen Krieges und ganz allgemein dafür, warum Frieden besser ist als Krieg, festgemacht werden können. In diesem Beitrag zeige ich sieben wichtige kognitive Metaphern des Angelus pacis auf, die auf biblischem Material basieren.
Pintnerová, Iveta - Pavlas, Petr. In the Footsteps of Patočka to the Cusan Echos in the Early Mo... more Pintnerová, Iveta - Pavlas, Petr. In the Footsteps of Patočka to the Cusan Echos in the Early Modern Vernacular Encyclopaedism: Comenius’ Theatrum universitatis rerum in Context. The article analyses in detail selected ideas from Theatrum universitatis rerum, a Czech-language universal encyclopaedia, probably written in Fulnek in 1616–1618, shortly after Comenius’ studies in Herborn and Heidelberg, and at the beginning of Comenius’ pastoral and pedagogical activity. The work was not completed and only a fragment of it is available to us today. The goal of the article is to identify and analyse those ideas from Theatrum whose possible and probable source of inspiration is Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464), or the Cusan tradition. So far, Jan Patočka has dealt with the topic of the influence of Cusan ideas on Comenius’ Theatrum in the most detail. Therefore, his insights are an Ariadne’s thread for further elaboration also here.
In this article, I first reconsider the personal links between Comenius and Leibniz, searching fo... more In this article, I first reconsider the personal links between Comenius and Leibniz, searching for how Comenian texts and ideas may have reached Leibniz. For that reason, I outline a constellation of thinkers within Central European Protestantism, since a vast majority of the important intellectuals with some noteworthy link both to Comenius and Leibniz were based there. Second, I investigate more closely one particular intellectual link between Comenius and Leibniz, namely their common combinatorial standpoint, because the striking parallels, connections and similarities between Comenius’s and Leibniz’s ideas on combinatorics, universal language and relational metaphysics have been largely overlooked thus far.
Early modern encyclopaedism is generally known as a pedagogical
endeavour striving to achieve not... more Early modern encyclopaedism is generally known as a pedagogical endeavour striving to achieve not only universal access to scientific information and universal education, but also universal science and knowledge. Its intellectual-historical genealogy and historicaltheological background, however, deserve much more scholarly attention than they have received hitherto. This paper illuminates the intellectual sources of Herborn encyclopaedism in terms of some key cognitive metaphors from the field of Christian theology. I not only show some traces of Bonaventuran and Cusan philosophical theology in Herborn encyclopedism, but I also argue that this encyclopaedism must be contextualised according to theological loci, i.e. generation, incarnation of the Word, and deification (generatio, incarnatio Verbi, theosis).
The goal of this article is to detail the opposition to “Ramean tree” dichotomic divisions which ... more The goal of this article is to detail the opposition to “Ramean tree” dichotomic divisions which emerged in the age of swelling Antitrinitarianism, especially Socinianism. Scholars such as Bartholomaeus Keckermann, Jan Amos Komenský and Richard Baxter made a point of preferring the trichotomic to the dichotomic division of Petrus Ramus and the Ramist tradition. This paper tracks the origin of Komenský’s “universal triadism” as present in his book metaphorics and in his metaphysics. Komenský’s triadic book metaphorics (the notion of nature, human mind and Scripture as “the triple book of God”) has its source in late sixteenth-century Lutheran mysticism and theosophy, mediated perhaps by Heinrich Khunrath and, above all, by Johann Heinrich Alsted. Komenský’s metaphysics follows the same triadic pattern. What is more, Komenský illustrates both these domains by means of Ramist-like bracketed trees; regarding book metaphorics, clearly his sources are Khunrath and Alsted. Although inspirations from Lullus, Sabundus and Nicholas of Cusa are involved, the crucial role has to be ascribed to the influence of Lutheran mysticism and Alsted’s “Lullo-Ramism.”
This paper seeks to analyse and clarify a linguistic-eschatological aspect of Comenius’s language... more This paper seeks to analyse and clarify a linguistic-eschatological aspect of Comenius’s language project. First, it investigates hypotheses concerning the origin of language in the works of key figures in the language planning movement: Bacon, Mersenne, Comenius, Dalgarno and Wilkins. Second, it inquiries into their theological justifications for language planning and into the problem of cessationism. Third, it examines the dignity and role of the existing languages according to Comenius and focuses on the notion and goal of the new, perfect, ultimate language as imagined by him. Fourth, it elucidates Comenius’s idea of the final language through the prism of his biblical exegesis and his understanding of sacred history.
The article picks up the threads of especially Martin Mulsow’s 1990s research and describes the d... more The article picks up the threads of especially Martin Mulsow’s 1990s research and describes the distinctiveness of the “relational metaphysics of resemblance” in the middle of the seventeenth century. The late Renaissance metaphysical outlines, carried out in the Comenius circle, are characteristic for their relationality, accent on universal resemblance, providentialism, pansensism, sensualism, triadism – and also for their effort to define metaphysical terms properly. While Comenians share the last – and only the last – feature with Cartesians, they differ in the other features. Therefore, Cartesians and Comenians cannot come to terms in the issue of the proper definitions either. Quite on the contrary, they oppose each other on this issue. By means of Johann Clauberg’s criticism of Georg Ritschel and René Descartes’s only supposedly “mysterious” and “solipsist” second meditation, the article turns a Cartesian mirror to the Comenian metaphysical project. In its light, the definitions of Georg Ritschel, Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld and Jan Amos Comenius turn out to be unacceptable for Cartesians (and also for Thomists and, in part, for Baconians). Despite their superficially Aristotelian-scholastic appearance, their content is notably Paracelsian-Campanellian (with a Timplerian foundation). Even though Comenian definitions of metaphysical terms had been refused and defeated by Cartesians, they experienced a second lifespan in their robust influence on Leibniz and Newton.
Apart from cabbalist and Lullist “philosophical combinatorics”, there is a tradition of mathemati... more Apart from cabbalist and Lullist “philosophical combinatorics”, there is a tradition of mathematical combinatorics connected with transposing letters (phones) from Cardano on. While Girolamo Cardano (1539) uses the combinations of letters as a more or less random illustration of the method of combinatorial calculations, Christopher Clavius (1570) more appropriately applies permutation and Daniel Schwenter (1636) thinks about putting all the gained “words” down. Paul Guldin (1641), moreover, enumerates the media and space needed for such an enterprise. The problem is, step by step, taken more and more seriously. Marin Mersenne and Jan Amos Comenius take this problem as a serious issue too. This study shows the influence of Marin Mersenne’s Harmonie universelle (1636) on Jan Amos Comenius’s combinatorial approach to language planning. The influence could be either direct or indirect (perhaps via a hypothetical translation or abstract by Theodore Haak). However, there is no doubt that Comenius was acquainted with Mersenne’s project in detail. Comenius is the first thinker whose combinatorial calculations are a part of a treatise focused purely on general linguistic (Novissima linguarum methodus, 1648). Kircher’s Polygraphia nova et universalis appears in 1663, Leibniz’s Dissertatio de arte combinatoria in 1666, van Helmont’s Alphabeti vere naturalis Hebraici brevissima delineatio in 1667.
The study deals with Jan Patočka’s unfinished text “Transcendentalia and Categories” which is app... more The study deals with Jan Patočka’s unfinished text “Transcendentalia and Categories” which is appended in English translation as a supplement. First, the study confirms Patočka’s thesis on the origin of Comenius’s triadism in the thought of Nicholas of Cusa and, at the same time, on the original features of Comenius’s conception, namely his systematic, deductive order of triads. Secondly, it investigates who mediated Cusan ideas to Comenius. The most important of these mediators was Pinder; among the others can be counted Weigel, Arndt, Alsted and possibly Paracelsus too. Patočka even assumes that Comenius actually read some works of Cusa (e. g. De ludo globi) himself. Last but not least, the study extends the validity of Patočka’s thesis to the new finding regarding Comenius’s metaphor of “God’s three books”.
Jitse van der Meer and Richard Oosterhoff suggest that the unsuccessful Protestant attempt to mar... more Jitse van der Meer and Richard Oosterhoff suggest that the unsuccessful Protestant attempt to mark out the boundaries of allegorical biblical exegesis and to fix the meaning of scriptural passages caused the awareness of the imperfection of the verbal language. Therefore, early modern philosophers “turned to nature” and strived to find the perfect language in mathematics and logic. This hypothesis needs to be revised: already the entire Middle Ages had been aware of the corruptedness of the verbal language. The decisive impulse for the rise of the perfect language movement seems to be rather the doctrinal plurality and the confessional diversity following the Reformation, because of which there arose the need of argumentation by means of natural theology for the sake of persuasion of the heterodox party or finding of a doctrinal consent. To avoid logomachy, some early modern philosophers tried to develop the perfect and universal language. One of them was Jan Amos Comenius. The aim of the paper is to outline Comenius’s design of the real language (lingua realis) that represents one chapter from the early modern language planning. It tries to show how Comenius’s project – with its “logical purism”, “word as definition” program, combinatorial ambitions and the effort not to restore, but to create the perfect language – belongs to the early modern mathematizing thought. The possible mutual influence among the projects of Jan Amos Comenius, John Pell, Cheney Culpeper and Francis Lodwick is discussed. The paper is intended as a complement of Rhodri Lewis’s discoveries from the perspective of Comenius studies.
According to Peter Harrison's book The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science (1998... more According to Peter Harrison's book The Bible, Protestantism and the Rise of Natural Science (1998) modern science came into existence as a result of the emphasis of Protestants on the literal sense of the Scripture, their refusal of the earlier symbolic or allegorical interpretation, and their efforts at fixing the meaning of the biblical text in which each passage was to be ascribed a single and unique meaning. This article tries to summarize the most significant critiques of Harrison's hypothesis (by Kenneth Howell, Jiste van der Meer and Richard Oosterhoff) and to acknowledge their legitimacy. However, the alternative explanation of the emergence of modern science as a result of disputes over the biblical interpretation and the subsequent discovery of the ambiguous character of the ordinary verbal language is not fully satisfactory either.
In his rhetoric, Augustine’s metaphor of the “book of nature” works towards a full appreciation o... more In his rhetoric, Augustine’s metaphor of the “book of nature” works towards a full appreciation of the created world and the fight against gnosis. In Patrizi’s and Comenius’ use of this imagery, a similar tendency appears with respect to the human heart and intellect: Patrizi prefers the “book of the soul” to other human books, while Comenius even wishes to make its importance equal to both the Bible and Nature. This shift seems to be significant in the context of the Renaissance and the Early Modern Age, and culminates in Kant’s “Copernican turn”. The goal of this paper is to outline the history of the trope and to compare Patrizi’s and Comenius’ understanding of it.
Studia Comeniana et Historica, vol. 43 (2013), no. 89-90
The article compares two conceptions of perfect language originated in the 17th century. Whereas
... more The article compares two conceptions of perfect language originated in the 17th century. Whereas
for Johannes Amos Comenius the perfect language has to be desideratum of philosophical
research, for Francis Mercury van Helmont, on the contrary, the perfect language is a really existing
language, namely Hebrew. It is shown that both conceptions differ in their interpretation of
the concept „perfection“. Comenius connects perfection with universality, while van Helmont with
originality.
Like a tripod, this review article is “three-legged”, having three partial objectives. First, it ... more Like a tripod, this review article is “three-legged”, having three partial objectives. First, it provides a concise companion to the book under review. Second, it presents a critical reflection upon those elements of Hotson’s story which the reviewer finds particularly thought-provoking or controversial. Third, at the very end (Conclusion: Towards a History of Hope), the reviewer dares to add somewhat more personal ruminations and speculative contemplations regarding a historiography of and for the future.
The idea of progress is the locus communis that has fundamentally determined the view of history.... more The idea of progress is the locus communis that has fundamentally determined the view of history. From ancient astronomers to modern scientists it also to a certain degree motivated and still motivates intellectual effort. It is the notion of the philosophy of history – progress is something that gives meaning both to general history and to the particular endeavours of individuals. At the same time it is a metaphor of whose metaphorical nature we are no longer conscious – it is “absolute metaphor” as Hans Blumenberg calls it. Progressus etymologically refers to a step forward. The recent book by the Czech historian of philosophy and science Daniel Špelda is, metaphorically speaking, a step forward to a better understanding of this crucial notion.
Protestant scholasticism is an unintended, if not even unwanted, off spring of the Lutheran and C... more Protestant scholasticism is an unintended, if not even unwanted, off spring of the Lutheran and Calvinist Reformation. Recent studies have demonstrated that, for Luther, reason was not only the devil’s whore but also the source of knowledge of God, although only legal (cognitio legalis) and therefore partial and left-handed, for all that we still cannot suspect Luther of sympathising with scholastic philosophy and theology. John Calvin’s criticism of scholasticism is likewise well-known. In spite of that, in the seventeenth century scholastic thinking reached its heyday among Reformed schoolmen. The theology of Richard Baxter, the “chief of English protestant schoolmen” as the nineteenth-century Dean of Westminster Arthur Stanley put it, was recently investigated by Simon J. G. Burton in the expanded version of his doctoral dissertation The Hallowing of Logic: The Trinitarian Method of Richard Baxter’s Methodus Theologiae. It is not easy reading, especially for someone not fully proficient in Scotist and Nominalist theological subtleties, but it is worth studying. As a whole, the book is excellent and brings fresh new insights into both Reformed scholasticism in general and Baxter’s theology and philosophy in particular.
Towards the Book of Books. The Herborn Encyclopaedism and the Comenius-Leibniz Constellation, 2023
This book-length study has two thematic parts. After an introduction to the methodology of the wo... more This book-length study has two thematic parts. After an introduction to the methodology of the work (chap. 2.1), which we call the history of cultural ideas, the first part (chap. 2–4) introduces the reader to the pre-Enlightenment intellectual history of encyclopaedism, more precisely to the genesis of encyclopaedia as a cultural idea from a few specific cognitive metaphors. Specifically, it is documented what role cognitive metaphors and metonymies played in this process among thinkers of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance, but especially among thinkers of the Herborn circle. The metaphors and metonymies in question are at the intersection of mathematics, philosophy, and theology: CIRCULAR WORLD/KNOWLEDGE, GENERATION OF THE WORD, INCARNATION OF GOD, DEIFICATION OF MAN, ALPHABET OF THOUGHTS/THINGS, etc. The methodology of the work draws on George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s cognitive metaphor theory (CMT), Erich Rothacker’s (1888-1965) history of metaphors, Hans Blumenberg’s (1920–1996) metaphorology, Reinhard Koselleck’s (1923–2006) historical semantics, and Marcel Stamm and Martin Mulsow’s research in constellations. While the first part of the book explores cognitive metaphors, the second part itself uses them as a primary interpretive and narrative tool, as it analyses in detail (ch. 5) a prosopographical constellation of figures around the couple of encyclopaedists Komenský–Leibniz. What is meant by that constellation is the network of intellectuals that link Comenius and Leibniz together, but without these persons always and in all cases being actors in the process of ideation (transmission of ideas), i.e., without necessarily being the agents through which Leibniz received Comenian ideas. From such an intellectual-prosopographical point of view, then, the main subject of this book are the Herborn encyclopaedists (alias: the three Herborn stars): Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638), Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld (1605–1655), Jan Amos Komenský (1592–1670) – and their successor Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716). However, the scope of this book also extends to many other persons, key figures to the emergence of early modern encyclopaedism. Diachronically, these include Raimund Lull (1232–1315), Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (1221–1274), and Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464); synchronically, Valentin Weigel (1533–1588), Johann Arndt (1555–1621), and Heinrich Khunrath (1560–1605) among others. From the perspective of intellectual geography, the study focuses primarily on Central Europe, which enjoys exceptional importance and attention here, although the broader European context is taken into account.
In: Křesťanská kultura a vzdělanost v českých zemích od středověku po Komenského. Justus et bonus. Ad honorem Jiří Beneš, (vyd.) Ondřej Podavka, Praha: Filosofia, s. 271-300. ISBN 978-80-7007-630-9., 2020
The Book of Christ and the Books of God. Preconditions of the
Inception of the theosophical Triad... more The Book of Christ and the Books of God. Preconditions of the Inception of the theosophical Triad and Tetrad in the Lutheran Mysticism at the Turn of the 16th and 17th Centuries
The aim of this contribution is to outline the conditions behind the emergence of the tetrad of so-called Books of God “nature – mind – Scripture – Christ” in Lutheran mysticism at the turn of the seventeenth century, and thereby roughly summarize the historical basis for the presence of this tetrad in the work of the Czech theologian, philosopher and pansophist John Amos Comenius. The structure of the study is as follows: (1) First a brief explanation of the conditions which allowed Lutheran mystics at the end of the sixteenth century to include the triad of “ Books of God” in theosophical discourse; (2) then a presentation of a comparison of Christ to the book, its biblical basis and its realization in medieval exegesis; (3) in conclusion, then only a reference to the tetradization of the “Books of God” in the four volume work Vier Bücher vom wahren Christentum by Johann Arndt (1555–1621) and to the parallel triadic-tetradic scheme of John Amos Comenius in order to allow for a final meditation on the reason for the loss of interest and popularity of this metaphorical triad and tetrad from the eighteenth century on.
The book concentrates on Comenius’s plan for perfect language from an unusual and so far rather n... more The book concentrates on Comenius’s plan for perfect language from an unusual and so far rather neglected point of view: it examines his project as a logical-combinatorial-theological enterprise. In the first part called Define, its background idea of universal onomatopoeia with every phone having a natural signification and expressing some quality is noted. At the same time, every letter (i. e. written character of the phone) should not only physiognomically correspond with the shape of physical organs involved in the pronounciation, but also be adequate to its real meaning and, moreover, be geometrically simple. The possible influence of mysticism (especially cabbala) on Comenius is pointed out in this respect (chapter 2.1) and, above all, Comenius’s project is contextualized within the horizon of the related early modern schemes of Johann Heinrich Bisterfeld (ch. 2.2), Marin Mersenne (ch. 2.3) and Francis Mercury van Helmont (ch. 2.4). Thereby the way is paved for investigation of Comenius’s “word as definiton” programme which postulates that every word – by means of combining these onomatopoeic phones or physiognomical letters – should constitute a definition of the concept or thing with the root signifying the nearest genus and affixes the specific differences. The natures of things would be thus expressed. After an excursus – where the differences between Comenians and Cartesians concerning the definitions of some fundamental metaphysical terms are outlined and, consequently, the conditions leading after 1650 to the “struggle for definitions” (as coined by Martin Mulsow) between both parties are sketched (ch. 2.5) – our exposition comes back in the second part of the book called Combine to Marin Mersenne, namely to his influence on Comenius in the question of combinatorial calculations and their use in language planning. Having differentiated Lullist “philosophical combinatorics” from combinatorial mathematics (ch. 3.1) and analysed the development in this field from Cardano on (ch. 3.2), this part of the book ends with an assertion that Comenius is the first thinker who puts combinatorial calculations of all possible words into a treatise on general linguistics (Novissima linguarum methodus, 1648) – although Mersenne already takes the mathematical combinatorics of letters very seriously and his treatment (Harmonie universelle, 1636) is much more elaborated (ch. 3.3). The combinatorics of letters is present also in another thinker related to the constellation around Comenius – Francis Mercury van Helmont. His project of a „natural Hebrew alphabet“ is concisely sketched in chapter 3.4. The last part of the book called Yearn culminates in adumbrating the ultimate theological horizon of Comenius’s idea of perfect language: the eschaton. Only then is it conceivable to expect such a language. As the trumpet of the seventh angel is resounding, we can hope for the fulfilment of this desire as well. The Holy Scripture promises this last, final and ultimate language, as Comenius supposes – and substantiates his claim with many expressive biblical images while keeping on his rationalist positions based on the claim for combinatio definitionum, to use later Leibniz’s formulation from the letter to Magnus Hesenthaler (1671). In the conclusion, the natural-theological motivation of Comenius’s language planning – revealed for instance in his trichotomical theory of predicaments – is taken into account. Last but not least, the principle of cognation (or relativity) which appears in the background of Comenius’s (but also Dalgarno’s, Bisterfeld’s or Leibniz’s) thinking about perfect metaphysics and language is considered and highlighted.
In BURTON, Simon – HOLLMAN, Joshua - PARKER, Eric (eds.). Nicholas of Cusa and the Making of the Early Modern World. Leiden: Brill, pp. 384-416., 2019
In the writings of John Chrysostom and especially Augustine we find appreciation of nature as a “... more In the writings of John Chrysostom and especially Augustine we find appreciation of nature as a “layman’s Bible,” but it is not until the fifteenth century that this idea becomes widespread. Raymond of Sabunde (c. 1385–1436) was the first thinker to emphasize not only the obvious chronological priority and availability of the book of nature, but also its interpretative clarity in comparison with the book of Scripture. Raymond’s direct influence on Nicholas of Cusa and their conjoint influence on Jan Amos Comenius (1592–1670), the “teacher of nations” and early modern educational and religious reformer, is evident. Less familiar, however, is Comenius’ triadization of the traditional book metaphor. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the two traditional dyads “book of nature–book of Scripture” and “book of the mind–human books” transform into the metaphorical book triad “nature–mind–Scripture.” Such a transformation is slightly suggested already in Augustine and Hugh of St Victor, diffidently expressed in Bonaventure and Cusanus, explicitly postulated in sixteenth-century Lutheran mysticism, and finally impressively developed in Comenius’ universal method of pansophia. Yet while diffident, Cusanus’ development of this theme is nonetheless important. Drawing on the Anselmic, Lullist and “Sabundian” tradition of natural theology, Cusanus as nomenclator Dei seeks God in the maximal Unity that is the same (or “not-other”) with his Triunity. Cusanus’ employment of the book metaphor for both nature and mind prepares the way for Comenius, whose project of universal reform, in the words of Jan Patočka, “suddenly breaks out with a volcanic power from its Cusan germs.” The hypothesis of this chapter is that Comenius’ universal reform included – not as an epiphenomenon but as a conscious and productive intention – the triadic reform of the traditional book metaphor, inspired by Cusan ideas.
This chapter builds primarily on the research of Jan Patočka and Karel Floss. After terminologica... more This chapter builds primarily on the research of Jan Patočka and Karel Floss. After terminological clarification and summarising of the present state of triadological research, the paper briefly recalls the history of triadism, in the course of which, in accordance with Jan Patočka’s thesis, it considers Nicholas of Cusa to have been the most important source in this regard for Jan Amos Comenius, who became familiar with his thinking through Ulrich Pinder’s anthology Speculum intellectuale felicitatis humanae. The paper continues with Nicholas of Cusa’s triadic natural theology, encompasses Comenius’s enumeration and interpretation of the traces of the Trinity imprinted on nature in the Pansophia, and in conclusion tries to illustrate this triadic deductive system by means of trichotomic tables (of a tree), whose outline Comenius presents in the Prima philosophia.
In general, the goal of the work is to outline the occurrence and change of book metaphors in the... more In general, the goal of the work is to outline the occurrence and change of book metaphors in the history of ideas, especially in the history of science. In particular, the history of those metaphors is related to the metaphorical conception of the “three God’s books” in the philosophical thinking of John Amos Comenius. His triadic book imagery is explained on the background of the general history of book metaphors. The research brings ten partial conclusions. First, early Christian authors created the “book of nature” metaphor on the basis of the older Greek “parable of letters” – an analytic comparison of basic elements of the world with letters – and the Hebraic idea of the “holy book”. Second, Raimundus Sabundus in the 15th century formulates in a new and daring way (in comparison to Paul the Apostle and Church Fathers) the idea that the book of nature – as a Bible of illiterate laymen – is a tool of natural knowledge of God. Thomas Browne and other “freethinkers” follow him in this way of thinking. The book of nature emancipates between 15th and 17th century at the expense of the book of Scripture, whose authority is shaken and gets in a crisis. Third, in the case of Comenius, despite his indisputable respect for the Scripture, we can find the typical tendencies of the 17th century: praising the book of nature as the first, greatest and even sufficient God’s book. These features and shifts of accent in the “book of nature” imagery adumbrate the secularization of European thinking. Fourth, in the medieval and Renaissance paradigm, the Scripture primarily explains Nature – Nature explains the Scripture only in its difficult figurative passages. In the modern paradigm, conversely, Nature is a key unto the book of Scripture (Bacon). Nature can even unveil neglected scientific treasures of the holy text (physicotheology). However, Nature should be read independently of the Bible as the authors influenced by Cartesianism assert. Fifth, the “book of nature” metaphor is a trope presupposing some knowability of the world, at least conditioned. It is usually not the metaphor of scepticism. The case of David Hume affirms it, because he tries to show unappropriateness of this metaphor. Sixth, the book imagery in the philosophical work of John Amos Comenius is above all inspired by three sources: in the creationist “parable of letters” by Tommaso Campanella, in the praise of travelling by Paracelsus and Johann Heinrich Alsted. And all in all, Alsted is the main inspirer of Comenius’ conception of the “three God’s books”. Seventh, the antibookish type of the “book of nature” metaphor, despite its occasional occurrence in the Christian antiquity and Middle Ages, gains in popularity in the Early modern age. Comenius uses it frequently in the 17th century. Eighth, the traditional poetic model of the book of nature as a poem is in the modern age expelled from the natural philosophy (science). It remains only in the field of art and Naturphilosophie. Comenius does not use it anymore either: Nature is a textbook and statute-book to him. Ninth, the question of the language of nature is illuminated by the comparison of conceptions of the natural language in J. A. Comenius and F. M. van Helmont. While Helmont, although younger than Comenius, remains in the Renaissance episteme, because he wants to restore the natural language from existing languages through the philological research, Comenius is already fascinated by the potential of mathematics and he aspires to create and construct the natural language. Finally tenth, the metaphor of the book of the mind in its epistemological version transforms in the late Renaissance and early modern age. The human subject is deified (Weigel), elevated to an arbiter of truth (Patrizi) and even the source of metaphysics (Comenius). Comenius had foreshadowed the criticism of metaphysics that Kant later carried out. Moreover, the work revises eight partial conclusions of the 20th and 21st century historians of the “book of nature” metaphor (W. Mills, E. R. Curtius, L. Nauta, E. Rothacker, R. Groh, P. Hadot, D. A. Neval, D. Čyževśkyj).
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Papers by Petr Pavlas
endeavour striving to achieve not only universal access to scientific
information and universal education, but also universal science and
knowledge. Its intellectual-historical genealogy and historicaltheological background, however, deserve much more scholarly
attention than they have received hitherto. This paper illuminates
the intellectual sources of Herborn encyclopaedism in terms of
some key cognitive metaphors from the field of Christian
theology. I not only show some traces of Bonaventuran and
Cusan philosophical theology in Herborn encyclopedism, but I
also argue that this encyclopaedism must be contextualised
according to theological loci, i.e. generation, incarnation of the
Word, and deification (generatio, incarnatio Verbi, theosis).
This hypothesis needs to be revised: already the entire Middle Ages had been aware of the corruptedness of the verbal language. The decisive impulse for the rise of the perfect language movement seems to be rather the doctrinal plurality and the confessional diversity following the Reformation, because of which there arose the need of argumentation by means of natural theology for the sake of persuasion of the heterodox party or finding of a doctrinal consent. To avoid logomachy, some early modern philosophers tried to develop the perfect and universal language. One of them was Jan Amos Comenius.
The aim of the paper is to outline Comenius’s design of the real language (lingua realis) that represents one chapter from the early modern language planning. It tries to show how Comenius’s project – with its “logical purism”, “word as definition” program, combinatorial ambitions and the effort not to restore, but to create the perfect language – belongs to the early modern mathematizing thought. The possible mutual influence among the projects of Jan Amos Comenius, John Pell, Cheney Culpeper and Francis Lodwick is discussed. The paper is intended as a complement of Rhodri Lewis’s discoveries from the perspective of Comenius studies.
for Johannes Amos Comenius the perfect language has to be desideratum of philosophical
research, for Francis Mercury van Helmont, on the contrary, the perfect language is a really existing
language, namely Hebrew. It is shown that both conceptions differ in their interpretation of
the concept „perfection“. Comenius connects perfection with universality, while van Helmont with
originality.
Book Reviews by Petr Pavlas
endeavour striving to achieve not only universal access to scientific
information and universal education, but also universal science and
knowledge. Its intellectual-historical genealogy and historicaltheological background, however, deserve much more scholarly
attention than they have received hitherto. This paper illuminates
the intellectual sources of Herborn encyclopaedism in terms of
some key cognitive metaphors from the field of Christian
theology. I not only show some traces of Bonaventuran and
Cusan philosophical theology in Herborn encyclopedism, but I
also argue that this encyclopaedism must be contextualised
according to theological loci, i.e. generation, incarnation of the
Word, and deification (generatio, incarnatio Verbi, theosis).
This hypothesis needs to be revised: already the entire Middle Ages had been aware of the corruptedness of the verbal language. The decisive impulse for the rise of the perfect language movement seems to be rather the doctrinal plurality and the confessional diversity following the Reformation, because of which there arose the need of argumentation by means of natural theology for the sake of persuasion of the heterodox party or finding of a doctrinal consent. To avoid logomachy, some early modern philosophers tried to develop the perfect and universal language. One of them was Jan Amos Comenius.
The aim of the paper is to outline Comenius’s design of the real language (lingua realis) that represents one chapter from the early modern language planning. It tries to show how Comenius’s project – with its “logical purism”, “word as definition” program, combinatorial ambitions and the effort not to restore, but to create the perfect language – belongs to the early modern mathematizing thought. The possible mutual influence among the projects of Jan Amos Comenius, John Pell, Cheney Culpeper and Francis Lodwick is discussed. The paper is intended as a complement of Rhodri Lewis’s discoveries from the perspective of Comenius studies.
for Johannes Amos Comenius the perfect language has to be desideratum of philosophical
research, for Francis Mercury van Helmont, on the contrary, the perfect language is a really existing
language, namely Hebrew. It is shown that both conceptions differ in their interpretation of
the concept „perfection“. Comenius connects perfection with universality, while van Helmont with
originality.
Inception of the theosophical Triad and Tetrad in the Lutheran
Mysticism at the Turn of the 16th and 17th Centuries
The aim of this contribution is to outline the conditions behind
the emergence of the tetrad of so-called Books of God “nature –
mind – Scripture – Christ” in Lutheran mysticism at the turn of the
seventeenth century, and thereby roughly summarize the historical
basis for the presence of this tetrad in the work of the Czech theologian,
philosopher and pansophist John Amos Comenius. The structure of
the study is as follows: (1) First a brief explanation of the conditions
which allowed Lutheran mystics at the end of the sixteenth century
to include the triad of “ Books of God” in theosophical discourse; (2)
then a presentation of a comparison of Christ to the book, its biblical
basis and its realization in medieval exegesis; (3) in conclusion, then
only a reference to the tetradization of the “Books of God” in the
four volume work Vier Bücher vom wahren Christentum by Johann
Arndt (1555–1621) and to the parallel triadic-tetradic scheme of John
Amos Comenius in order to allow for a final meditation on the reason
for the loss of interest and popularity of this metaphorical triad and
tetrad from the eighteenth century on.
Thereby the way is paved for investigation of Comenius’s “word as definiton” programme which postulates that every word – by means of combining these onomatopoeic phones or physiognomical letters – should constitute a definition of the concept or thing with the root signifying the nearest genus and affixes the specific differences. The natures of things would be thus expressed.
After an excursus – where the differences between Comenians and Cartesians concerning the definitions of some fundamental metaphysical terms are outlined and, consequently, the conditions leading after 1650 to the “struggle for definitions” (as coined by Martin Mulsow) between both parties are sketched (ch. 2.5) – our
exposition comes back in the second part of the book called Combine to
Marin Mersenne, namely to his influence on Comenius in the question
of combinatorial calculations and their use in language planning.
Having differentiated Lullist “philosophical combinatorics” from
combinatorial mathematics (ch. 3.1) and analysed the development
in this field from Cardano on (ch. 3.2), this part of the book ends
with an assertion that Comenius is the first thinker who puts
combinatorial calculations of all possible words into a treatise on
general linguistics (Novissima linguarum methodus, 1648) – although
Mersenne already takes the mathematical combinatorics of letters
very seriously and his treatment (Harmonie universelle, 1636) is much
more elaborated (ch. 3.3).
The combinatorics of letters is present also in another thinker
related to the constellation around Comenius – Francis Mercury van
Helmont. His project of a „natural Hebrew alphabet“ is concisely
sketched in chapter 3.4.
The last part of the book called Yearn culminates in adumbrating
the ultimate theological horizon of Comenius’s idea of perfect
language: the eschaton. Only then is it conceivable to expect such
a language. As the trumpet of the seventh angel is resounding, we can
hope for the fulfilment of this desire as well. The Holy Scripture
promises this last, final and ultimate language, as Comenius supposes
– and substantiates his claim with many expressive biblical images
while keeping on his rationalist positions based on the claim for
combinatio definitionum, to use later Leibniz’s formulation from the
letter to Magnus Hesenthaler (1671).
In the conclusion, the natural-theological motivation of Comenius’s
language planning – revealed for instance in his trichotomical theory
of predicaments – is taken into account. Last but not least, the principle
of cognation (or relativity) which appears in the background of
Comenius’s (but also Dalgarno’s, Bisterfeld’s or Leibniz’s) thinking
about perfect metaphysics and language is considered and highlighted.
in the Pansophia, and in conclusion tries to illustrate this triadic deductive system by means of trichotomic tables (of a tree), whose outline Comenius presents in the Prima philosophia.
The research brings ten partial conclusions. First, early Christian authors created the “book of nature” metaphor on the basis of the older Greek “parable of letters” – an analytic comparison of basic elements of the world with letters – and the Hebraic idea of the “holy book”.
Second, Raimundus Sabundus in the 15th century formulates in a new and daring way (in comparison to Paul the Apostle and Church Fathers) the idea that the book of nature – as a Bible of illiterate laymen – is a tool of natural knowledge of God. Thomas Browne and other “freethinkers” follow him in this way of thinking. The book of nature emancipates between 15th and 17th century at the expense of the book of Scripture, whose authority is shaken and gets in a crisis.
Third, in the case of Comenius, despite his indisputable respect for the Scripture, we can find the typical tendencies of the 17th century: praising the book of nature as the first, greatest and even sufficient God’s book. These features and shifts of accent in the “book of nature” imagery adumbrate the secularization of European thinking.
Fourth, in the medieval and Renaissance paradigm, the Scripture primarily explains Nature – Nature explains the Scripture only in its difficult figurative passages. In the modern paradigm, conversely, Nature is a key unto the book of Scripture (Bacon). Nature can even unveil neglected scientific treasures of the holy text (physicotheology). However, Nature should be read independently of the Bible as the authors influenced by Cartesianism assert.
Fifth, the “book of nature” metaphor is a trope presupposing some knowability of the world, at least conditioned. It is usually not the metaphor of scepticism. The case of David Hume affirms it, because he tries to show unappropriateness of this metaphor.
Sixth, the book imagery in the philosophical work of John Amos Comenius is above all inspired by three sources: in the creationist “parable of letters” by Tommaso Campanella, in the praise of travelling by Paracelsus and Johann Heinrich Alsted. And all in all, Alsted is the main inspirer of Comenius’ conception of the “three God’s books”.
Seventh, the antibookish type of the “book of nature” metaphor, despite its occasional occurrence in the Christian antiquity and Middle Ages, gains in popularity in the Early modern age. Comenius uses it frequently in the 17th century.
Eighth, the traditional poetic model of the book of nature as a poem is in the modern age expelled from the natural philosophy (science). It remains only in the field of art and Naturphilosophie. Comenius does not use it anymore either: Nature is a textbook and statute-book to him.
Ninth, the question of the language of nature is illuminated by the comparison of conceptions of the natural language in J. A. Comenius and F. M. van Helmont. While Helmont, although younger than Comenius, remains in the Renaissance episteme, because he wants to restore the natural language from existing languages through the philological research, Comenius is already fascinated by the potential of mathematics and he aspires to create and construct the natural language.
Finally tenth, the metaphor of the book of the mind in its epistemological version transforms in the late Renaissance and early modern age. The human subject is deified (Weigel), elevated to an arbiter of truth (Patrizi) and even the source of metaphysics (Comenius). Comenius had foreshadowed the criticism of metaphysics that Kant later carried out.
Moreover, the work revises eight partial conclusions of the 20th and 21st century historians of the “book of nature” metaphor (W. Mills, E. R. Curtius, L. Nauta, E. Rothacker, R. Groh, P. Hadot, D. A. Neval, D. Čyževśkyj).