![]() ![]() ![]() There is doubt in the strict sense when the intellect neither assents nor dissents, because either there are no positive arguments for and against the law, or the arguments for and against the law are equal in strength. ![]() Between these two extremes there can be varying degrees of uncertainty about the existence or cessation of a prohibiting law. On the other hand, when it is certain that no law forbids an action, there is no obligation to abstain from performing it. STATE OF THE QUESTION.-When a prohibiting law is certain, the subjects of the law are bound to abstain from performing the action which the law forbids, unless they are excused by one of the ordinary exempting causes. Drawing on specific meditative traditions already circulating within the Society, as well as strains of an anti-skeptical probabilism that was gaining strength in the Society's schools, Kircher thus shaped an approach to the hidden depths of the Earth that can be usefully linked to his institutional and intellectual contexts.Probabilism is the moral system which holds that, when there is question solely of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of an action, it is permissible to follow a solidly probable opinion in favor of liberty even though the opposing view is more probable. Using a combination of iconography and narrative structure, Kircher emphasized the contemplation of the probable rather than the accumulation of ‘facts’, thereby permitting his audiences to glimpse for themselves the unseen realms of the world. This study explores one of Kircher's most important works, the Mundus subterraneus of 1665, in an effort to establish how specific spiritual and intellectual traditions present within the Society affected both the questions that Kircher posed and the methodologies he adopted to answer them. Frequently associated with traditions of Renaissance magic and esotericism, and thereby cast as an anachronism at odds with the forward-looking character assigned by historians of science to the 17th century, Kircher was nonetheless a typical product of his time and, more importantly, of the Society of Jesus. ![]() Though one of the best-studied Jesuit naturalists of the 17th century, Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) remains something of an enigma to modern scholars. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |