ČLÁNKY / ARTICLES / STUDIEN
Simon J. G. BURTON, Pansophic Mirrors of the Soul: Comenius, Pinder and the Transformation of Cusan Optics
By his own account Jan Amos Comenius discovered the works of Nicholas of Cusa through his reading of the Speculum intellectuale felicitatis of the Nuremberg humanist Ulrich Pinder. However, while Cusa's influence on Comenius is well known, that of Pinder remains unconsidered. Indeed, Pinder has been mined simply as a Cusan source and not considered as a Comenian influence in his own right. Yet Pinder's skilful compiling places Cusan conceptualities in new frames and alongside different figures (e.g. Bonaventure, Peter of Limoges, Pico, Baptista Mantuanus) offering a profound interpretative lens through which to view the fifteenth-century German Cardinal. Placing Comenius' reading of Pinder in the wider context of the Neo-Platonic metaphysics of light this paper investigates his reception of optical metaphors of knowledge (eye, mirror, glasses etc) considering the Speculum as a prototype for the Panaugia and Pansophia.
Keywords
Jan Amos Comenius; Ulrich Pinder; Nicholas of Cusa; Bonaventure; Metaphysics of Light; Contuition
Marcela SLAVÍKOVÁ, Vir non vulgari e loquentia: Joachim Hübner's Elegance of Expression
This paper discusses the Latin style of Joachim Hübner (1611–1666), an important member of the Hartlib circle whom his colleagues valued for his elegance of expression in Latin. Only his letters have survived, among which the 1638–1640 Latin correspondence with Johannes Amos Comenius excels in length and refinement. It appears that in order to achieve such elegance of expression, not only did Hübner use rhetorical devices such as elaborate metaphors and syntax, but that he also employed advanced vocabulary (e.g., expressive, technical, rare and Greek words) which he would hardly have encountered in the usual school curriculum. Careful analysis of Hübner's vocabulary has revealed his sources: besides a thorough knowledge of Cicero's phraseology, Hübner knew Erasmus's Adagia in detail and it is also apparent that he was particularly skilled in the language that was fashionable in contemporary learned correspondence. However, due to Hübner's tendency to overuse rhetorical devices and unusual vocabulary, his style is ostentatious and at times complex to the point of obscurity.
Keywords
Joachim Hübner; Early modern correpondence in Latin; Elegant Latin style; the Hartlib circle; Latin collocations and idioms; Expressive and technical Latin vocabulary
Lyke de VRIES, An Early Modern Proto-Feminist Story? The Innovative Programme of a Utopian Sorority
This paper studies a pseudonymous text about an intellectual sorority entitled Frawenzimmer der Schwesteren des Rosinfarben Creutzes (A Sorority of the Sisters of the Rose-Coloured Cross, 1620). The author of the text – under the female name of Famaugusta – juxtaposes this fictional women's society with the Rosicrucians. The women lived on a ship that travelled the oceans. Aware of the dramatic political and religious landscape of the time, they devoted themselves to religious piety. They had access to secrets of nature, mastered various arts and sciences, progressed science and invented various devices. This paper studies the proto-feminist and utopian character of the text, analyses its authorship and considers its relationship with Rosicrucian manifestos.
Keywords
Utopian stories; Women's society; Rosicrucianism; Early modern proto-feminism
Ulrich SCHÄFER, Neu entdeckte Autographen in zwei Exemplaren der Opera didactica omnia von Johann Amos Comenius aus dem Jahr 1657
The article deals with the following two autographs: 1. A dedication which accompanied a copy given by Comenius to the Hohe Schule in Herborn, where he was a student from 1611 until 1613. This copy came later into the library of the Gymnasium Philippinum in Weilburg an der Lahn. 2. A handwritten entry by the owner, Petrus Colbovius, in the copy now to be found in the Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle/Saale. This states that he received this book as a present from Johann Amos Comenius. Facsimile reproductions, transcriptions, and translations of the autographs are added. Furthermore, hitherto information about Petrus Colbovius is presented.
Keywords
Autographs; Johannes Amos Comenius; Opera didactica omnia; Petrus Colbovius
REVIEW ARTICLE
Věra SCHIFFEROVÁ, Reflections on Jan Čížek's Book Comenius and Bacon: Two Early Modern Pathways to the Restoration of Knowledge
This review article discusses the monograph by Jan Čížek that deals with the conception of the restoration of knowledge in Francis Bacon and Johannes Amos Comenius. The reviewer points to Patočka's and Schaller's contributions to the topic, contributions which Čížek mentions only marginally or omits altogether. This may be considered a flaw in Čížek's work since Patočka's and Schaller's studies are not only comparative analyses but contribute to the interpretation of the spiritual foundations of modern European civilisation, so the monograph should have discussed them, albeit critically. The review article further deals with conceptually important problems in Čížek's book. First of all, this regards the issue of the methodological approach to Bacon and Comenius. The reviewer values Čížek's rejection of the ahistorical approach to Bacon and Comenius, which distorts the authentic nature of their thought. At the same time, however, she supposes that the relationship between historical and presentist perspectives is far more complex and she calls for a broader discussion of this topic, taking into consideration the opinions of different authors (e.g. Leibniz, Gadamer, Gilson). The second issue discussed is the question of a common theological motivation driving both Bacon and Comenius. Čížek repeatedly points out that both thinkers found support for their projects of knowledge improvement in the Book of Daniel (Da 12:4). The reviewer supposes that Čížek could also have analysed other biblical passages Comenius used for his pansophia. He could have dealt too with the metaphysical background of Comenius's pansophia. This would have shown more clearly what is different in Comenius when comparing him with Bacon, most notably the main characteristics of pansophia. Thirdly, the reviewer devotes attention to the concept of human affairs (res humanae). Čížek claims that this concept stems from Bacon. The reviewer points to the inspiration provided to Comenius by Augustinian and Campanellian sources and conjectures that Comenius's concept of human affairs grew simultaneously out of several intellectual traditions.
Keywords
Francis Bacon; Johannes Amos Comenius; Restoration of Knowledge; Methodological Questions
Martin ŠKÁRA, The Way to the Second Labyrinth
G. W. Leibniz, Pacidius Philalethi – Pacidius Philalethovi, ed. and transl. Jan Makovský, Praha, OIKOYMENH, 2019, 341 pp., ISBN 978-80-7298-517-3.
This review article seeks to analytically capture the main pillars of the first Czech-Latin edition of Leibniz's Pacidius Philalethi dialogue. The structure of this article directly mirrors the structure of the work in question, which consists of two parts: (I) a bilingual edition of Leibniz's dialogue Pacidius Philalethi, and (II) an interpretive study of the dialogue by its editor and translator, Jan Makovský. In the case of Leibniz, inquiring into the concept of motion becomes an inquiry into its metaphysical ground. The elaboration of the problem of motion is thus guided in the dialogue more Socratico through posing the question itself, its subsequent anchoring in the labyrinth of the continuum, and in an ascension to God through which the concept of movement acquires its new name: transcreation. The Czech editor, translator and interpreter is fully aware of the seriousness of Leibniz's solution and, for this reason, he also attaches to his precise translation an interpretive study which is analysed and confronted in this review article.
Keywords
Motion; Labyrinth; Continuum; Transcreation; God
RECENZE / REVIEWS / REZENSIONEN
Pavel Floss, The Philosophy of Nicholas of Cusa: An Introduction into His Thinking (Simon J. G. BURTON)
Danilo Facca, Early Modern Aristotelianism and the Making of Philosophical Disciplines (Petr PAVLAS)
Jan Jesenský, Proti tyranům, ed. by Kateřina Šolcová (Tomáš NEJESCHLEBA)
Regesten der in den Handschriftenbänden Acta Unitatis Fratrum I–IV überlieferten Texte, hrsg. von Joachim Bahlcke et al. (Martin NODL)
Howard Hotson – Thomas Wallnig (eds.), Reassembling the Republic of Letters in the Digital Age: Standards, Systems, Scholarship (Iva LELKOVÁ)
Lucie Storchová (ed.), Companion to Central and Eastern European Humanism, Vol. 2: The Czech Lands, Part 1: A–L (Lav ŠUBARIĆ)
