Article ID: CBB077345932

Rethinking Sylva sylvarum: Francis Bacon's Use of Giambattista Della Porta's Magia naturalis (2017)

unapi

This article analyzes the relation between Francis Bacon’s Sylva sylvarum one of its most important sources, Giovan Barttista Della Porta’s Magia naturalis. I claim that Bacon used Della Porta’s experimental reports as a basis upon which he built his science of metaphysics and natural magic. Since Della Porta’s interest lies in the immediate transformation of individual bodies, Bacon considers his approach an inferior kind of science, what he called physics mechanics. There are several changes Bacon made to Della Porta’s experimental reports. They can be grouped by addition of causal explanations, generalizations, selection reordering of instances under different headings. Through all these transformations, Bacon acquires a more profound knowledge of nature and its inner activities and takes Della Porta’s experimental reports to the “superior” science of metaphysics and natural magic.

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Authors & Contributors
Rusu, Doina-Cristina
Jalobeanu, Dana
Saito, Fumikazu
Clementina Gily Reda
Verardi, Donato
Bianchi, Lorenzo
Journals
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Circumscribere: International Journal for the History of Science
Early Science and Medicine: A Journal for the Study of Science, Technology and Medicine in the Pre-modern Period
Galilæana: Journal of Galilean Studies
Studi dellaportiani
Bruniana & Campanelliana: Ricerche Filosofiche e Materiali Storico-testuali
Publishers
Agorà
Centro Di
Firenze University Press
Max Niemeyer Verlag
Palgrave Macmillan
SISMEL edizioni del Galluzzo
Concepts
Natural magic
Magic
Occult sciences
Experiments and experimentation
Astrology
Natural philosophy
People
Della Porta, Giovan Battista
Bacon, Francis, 1st Baron Verulam
Bruno, Giordano
Campanella, Tommaso
Galilei, Galileo
Agricola, Georgius
Time Periods
16th century
17th century
Renaissance
15th century
18th century
Early modern
Places
Italy
Naples (Italy)
Paris (France)
Holy Roman Empire
Rome (Italy)
Institutions
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Rome)
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