著者

菊池原 洋平

出版者

日本科学史学会

雑誌

科学史研究. 第II期 (ISSN:00227692)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, no.217, pp.24-34, 2001-03-28

参考文献数

24

被引用文献数

2

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As a physician and a natural philosopher in the Renaissance, Paracelsus discusses in his works the structure of this world and individual things as well as the human body. All things in this world consist not only of four elements which Aristotle and his followers advocated, but also of three substances (sulfur, mercury and salt) which can be regarded as the offspring from the Arabic alchemical tradition. The aim of this paper is to consider a structural relationship between four elements and three substances form the viewpoint of the "life" concept, which was prominent in the Renaissance. My paper puts emphasis on the following items : 1. Every thing is given material body by just one element, not by four elements, in which qualitative difference can be discerned; four elements do not mutually transform as they do in the Aristotelian theory. 2. Four elements are the mother's womb bearing all things, and give to each of them nourishments for its activity. 3. Three substances are vital activities in the body, not a soul as assumed in the traditional Western thought. 4. An individualization of a thing is determined by both the activity of inherent three substances as a seed and their quantitative and qualitative differences. 5. A creation of this world is a process in which four elements are so fertilized by three substances as in biological fertilization. Therefore, a structural relationship between four elements and three substances is derived from an idea of the generative function based on the "life" concept. Accordingly we can safely say that four elements and three substances are theorized by his empirical thought which has "life" concept as an indispensable ingredient. It is not until four elements and three substances are combined each other that all things become of matter and life. In regard to the organization of a thing, it is not composed of just three substances; three substances do not in turn dominate four elements; rather, both need each other.