From Comenius to Newton. The Chiliastic Nature of Pansophic Knowledge

Authors

  • Irene Zanon Ca’ Foscari University of Venice Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies

Keywords:

Comenius, Newton, Pansophism, Chiliasm

Abstract

Comenius adopted the term “pansophia” to define a comprehensive system of knowledge drawn from the concordance between the senses, reason and divine revelation – a structure that recalls the threefold pattern of Isaac Newton’s scholarship (his scientific research, alchemical experiments and biblical exegesis). Newton’s conviction that there is a universal language for decrypting alchemical symbols, religious truths and the physical world alike is what enables us to describe his intellectual endeavour as pansophic. Besides, the eventual goal of human palingenesis which would usher in the Golden Age of the Millennium is what binds together the forerunners of true pansophism and Newton’s scholarship.

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Nº 17 (2017)

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