| 1. |
- Danneskiold-Samsøe, Jakob
(författare)
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Muses and Patrons : Cultures of Natural Philosophy in Seventeenth Century Scandinavia
- 2004
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study analyses the development of natural philosophy in Scandinavia in the 16th and 17th century. Rather than dealing with individual natural philosophers and ideas, it evolves around groups of natural philsophers - the Bartholin family and the former assistants of Tycho Brahe in Denmark, the Rudbeck family in Sweden. The study of nature is put into a cultural, religious, social, and political context, and much attention is given to the phenomenon of patronage. General developments in the two countries, particularly political, are drawn upon to explain the different conext, national style, and development of natural philosophy in Denmark and Sweden
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| 2. |
- Håkansson, Håkan
(författare)
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Seeing the Word : John Dee and Renaissance Occultism
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This study reassesses the occult philosophy of the British polymath John Dee (1527-1609). Focusing on his treatise Monas hieroglyphica (1564) and his notorious angelic conversations in the 1580s, it describes Dee’s philosophical career as a continuous search for a language which could yield knowledge of both nature and God. Situating Dee’s philosophy in the context of early modern “symbolic exegesis”, a group of discursive practices aimed at uncovering the creative principles of God by means of language, the study is an attempt to show how Dee’s seemingly divergent interests were interrelated. In Monas hieroglyphica he treated such disciplines as grammar, biblical exegesis, kabbalah, astronomy, alchemy, and mathematics as grounded on a common foundation, identical to the Word of God. By conceiving a graphical symbol, expressing God’s Word in visual form, Dee believed that he could bring these sciences to perfection. In the later angelic conversations, Dee’s aim was to recover the language spoken by the prelapsarian Adam. The Adamic language was conceived of as representing accurately God’s creative Word, and Dee’s recovery of this tongue would ultimately result in a complete restitution of both religion and knowledge. Dee’s works provide an example of how metaphoric associations between the Word of God, language, nature and the human soul could be exploited in Renaissance occult thought. Such metaphoric associations had an important role in shaping and legitimizing early modern views of symbolism, mysticism, and magic. Relying on Dee’s own sources, many of which still survive with his annotations, this study tries to reconstruct Dee’s search for the perfect language, while simultaneously stressing the syncretistic character of his views.
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| 3. |
- Libell, Monica
(författare)
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Morality Beyond Humanity : Schopenhauer, Grysanowski, and Schweitzer on Animal Ethics
- 2001
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The study examines the character and development of the animal ethical ideas of three German thinkers: Arthur Schopenhauer, Ernst Grysanowski, and Albert Schweitzer. By situating them in their cultural and intellectual context, the study explores the differing meanings of their ethical views of animals and seeks to answer the question of how their ideas can be explained historically. It is argued that from the beginning of the 19th century through the 1880s, the animal ethical discourse received heightened attention, a development that was largely due to two parallel bodies of ideas, both emanating out of the Enlightenment project. The early 19th century showed an increasing scientific interest in basic existential matters, such as the physical body, intuition, and instincts. Simultaneously, a social movement arose, which stressed the importance of civilization, education, humane conduct, and social reforms. Towards the close of the century, these two movements merged, while their focus shifted to an interest in the economy and morality of Nature, which increasingly displaced the earlier ideal of civilized society and the overt focus on social reforms. The investigation suggests that these developments shows that the discourse of animal ethics followed a circular rather than linear pattern. The era started with the humanitarian ideals of the Enlightenment and ended in the early decades of the 20th century with the appropriation of social-Darwinist morality.
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