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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy
The Forgetting Of Fire: An Archaeology Of Technics, Thomas A. Doerksen
The Forgetting Of Fire: An Archaeology Of Technics, Thomas A. Doerksen
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
This dissertation applies the methods of Bachelard and Foucault to key moments in the development of science. By analyzing the attitudes of four figures from four different centuries, it shows how epistemic attitudes have shifted from a participation in non-human, natural realities to a construction of human-centred technologies. The idea of an epistemic attitude is situated in reference to Foucault’s concept of the episteme and his method of archaeology; an attitude is the institutionally-situated and personally-enacted comportment of an epistemic agent toward an object of knowledge. This line of thought is pursued under the theme of elemental fire, which begins …
The Memetic Evolution Of Alchemy From Zosimos To Timothy Leary, Ryan J. Hutchinson
The Memetic Evolution Of Alchemy From Zosimos To Timothy Leary, Ryan J. Hutchinson
History Undergraduate Theses
The subject of alchemy is often only relegated to a footnote of the history of modern chemistry. When framed as a discussion of the history of ideas and mankind attempting to understand their position in the universe, the language of alchemy is seen present in the writings of ancient Greece to 20th century counterculture. But how did this obscure art survive such a long journey over time and space? This paper explores alchemy as a meme (as defined by Richard Dawkins) that changed over time to fit the needs of its proponents. We find that the ideas in alchemy had …
The Repudiation Of The Marvelous: Jonson’S The Alchemist And The Limits Of Satire, Ian Mcadam
The Repudiation Of The Marvelous: Jonson’S The Alchemist And The Limits Of Satire, Ian Mcadam
Quidditas
Our present conception of alchemy is, at best, shadowy and confused. As Charles Nicholl states in The Chemical Theatre, "The modern image...tends in two directions: one scientific, the other magical. The first defines alchemy simply and chronologically as early chemistry...out of which modern chemistry began to emerge during the seventeenth century.” On the other hand, “alchemy is popularly defined as one of the ‘occult arts’.... To us, the alchemist’s avowed quest for miraculous substances—the Philosopher’s Stone which converts all to gold, the Elixir Vitae which confers immortality—belongs to the realm of magic rather than science.” Nevertheless, to consider Renaissance …