Alchemy

"Alchemist" redirects here. For other uses, see Alchemist (disambiguation) and Alchemy (disambiguation).

Depiction of an Ouroboros from the alchemical treatise Aurora consurgens (15th century), Zentralbibliothek Zürich, Switzerland
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Alchemy (from the Arabic word al-kīmīā, الكیمیاء) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe.[1] In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in a number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD.[2] Greek-speaking alchemists often referred to their craft as "the Art" (τέχνη) or "Knowledge" (ἐπιστήμη), and it was often characterised as mystic (μυστική), sacred (ἱɛρά), or divine (θɛíα).[3]

Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials.[1][4][5][n 1] Common aims were chrysopoeia, the transmutation of "base metals" (e.g., lead) into "noble metals" (particularly gold);[1] the creation of an elixir of immortality;[1] and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease.[6] The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical magnum opus ("Great Work").[1] The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of these projects.

Islamic and European alchemists developed a basic set of laboratory techniques, theories, and terms, some of which are still in use today. They did not abandon the Ancient Greek philosophical idea that everything is composed of four elements, and they tended to guard their work in secrecy, often making use of cyphers and cryptic symbolism. In Europe, the 12th-century translations of medieval Islamic works on science and the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy gave birth to a flourishing tradition of Latin alchemy.[1] This late medieval tradition of alchemy would go on to play a significant role in the development of early modern science (particularly chemistry and medicine).[7]

Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite criticisms by scholars such as Eric J. Holmyard and Marie-Louise von Franz that they should be understood as complementary.[8][9] The former is pursued by historians of the physical sciences, who examine the subject in terms of early chemistry, medicine, and charlatanism, and the philosophical and religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism, psychologists, and some philosophers and spiritualists. The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts.

  1. ^ a b c d e f Pereira, Michela (2018). "Alchemy". In Craig, Edward (ed.). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780415249126-Q001-1. ISBN 978-0-415-25069-6. Alchemy is the quest for an agent of material perfection, produced through a creative activity (opus), in which humans and nature collaborate. It exists in many cultures (China, India, Islam; in the Western world since Hellenistic times) under different specifications: aiming at the production of gold and/or other perfect substances from baser ones, or of the elixir that prolongs life, or even of life itself. Because of its purpose, the alchemists' quest is always strictly linked to the religious doctrine of redemption current in each civilization where alchemy is practised.
    In the Western world alchemy presented itself at its advent as a sacred art. But when, after a long detour via Byzantium and Islamic culture, it came back again to Europe in the twelfth century, adepts designated themselves philosophers. Since then alchemy has confronted natural philosophy for several centuries.
  2. ^ Principe, Lawrence M. The secrets of alchemy Archived 26 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine. University of Chicago Press, 2012, pp. 9–14.
  3. ^ Keyser, Paul T. (1990). "Alchemy in the Ancient World: From Science to Magic". Illinois Classical Studies. 15 (2): 353–378. hdl:2142/12197. ISSN 0363-1923.
  4. ^ Malouin, Paul-Jacques (1751). "Alchimie [Alchemy]". Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts, et des Métiers. Vol. I. Translated by Lauren Yoder. Paris. hdl:2027/spo.did2222.0000.057.
  5. ^ Linden 1996, pp. 7 & 11
  6. ^ "Alchemy". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 18 August 2007. Retrieved 21 August 2007.
  7. ^ Newman, William R.; Mauskopf, Seymour H.; Eddy, Matthew Daniel (2014). "Chemical Knowledge in the Early Modern World". Osiris. 29: 1–15. doi:10.1086/678110. ISSN 0369-7827. PMID 26103744. S2CID 29035688. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
  8. ^ Holmyard 1957, p. 16
  9. ^ von Franz 1997


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