Ars generalis ultima

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arbor naturalis et logicalis, natural logical tree.
The middle part of the tree corresponds to the Arbor porphyrii, the additional leaves on the right side represent ten types of questions, the leaves on the left are letter keys.
Next to it Ars Magna Figura 1

The Ars generalis ultima is a work completed around 1305 (1) and printed for the first time after 1500, in which the Mallorcan philosopher , logician and theologian Ramon Llull explains the Ars magna , the great art , by mechanically combining terms using one of his own "Logical machine" to gain knowledge. It may be assumed that he did to his computer disks through instruments of Arab astronomers and astrologers also views of the Kabala was inspired.

Llull expands a tree structure that draws heavily on the Arbor porphyriana with key questions on the 45 basic terms summarized in the Table of Principles . Relationships between these principles are not established arbitrarily, but rather by means of a logical apparatus that is controlled by four "figures", three circular disks and a permutation table. The restrictions given by the "apparatus" (by Llull's instructions) cause the fundamental difference between the Lullian system and the Kabbalistic combinatorics.

history

The Great Art was Llull his memoirs, according to close on the mountain Randa Palma, where he was in 1274 for contemplation had retired, "revealed by God" was ( Vita coetanea, 1311). From then on he was also called Doctor illuminatus .

This art found its first written version soon after in Ars compendiosa inveniendi veritatem, for example Brief Summary of the Art of Finding Truth. In this and other previous texts, he described a much more complicated system than later, with up to 16 "figures".

Research distinguishes several phases of maturity of the work, but clearly two, namely 1274–89 and 1290–1308, due to Llull's efforts from 1287 to convince the scholastics of the universities of Montpellier and Paris of the Ars magna . This only resulted in the simplification and streamlining of the system presented in Ars generalis ultima .

In 1308, Llull also completed a short version, the Ars brevis (sometimes also called Ars parva ) , almost parallel to the fully developed Ars generalis ultima .

Table of principles

Figura A
Principia absoluta 		Figura T
Principia relativa 		Questions
quaestiones 		Subjects (2)
Subjecta 		virtues
Virtutes 		Vice
Vitia
B. bonitas differentia utrum? If? Deus The divine being justitia avaritia
C. magnitudo concordantia quid? What? angelus The angelic being prudentia gula
D. duratio contrarietas de quo? About what? caelum The heavenly being fortitudo luxuria
E. potestas principium quare? Why? homo The human being temperantia superbia
F. sapientia medium quantum? How much (how big)? imaginatio fides accidia
G voluntas finis torment? How to get it sensitiva The sensitive being spes invidia
H virtus majoritas quando? When? vegetativa The vegetable being caritas ira
I. veritas aequalitas ubi? Where? elementativa The elementary being patientia mendacium
K gloria minoritas quo modo? cum quo? How? What for? instrumentativa pietas inconstantia

The six columns show nine absolute principles (in early versions of Llull referred to as "divine degrees", later formulated more generally), and nine each relative principles, questions, subjects, virtues and vices (the last two columns are combined into pairs of opposites).

The four figures

Ramon Llull - Ars Magna Fig 1-4.png

The letter A, according to ancient Aleph interpretations , stands for God, forms the center of the first figure: For Llull, the Ars Magna was medium persuasionis, i.e. a tool of conviction to convert unbelievers through (supposedly) compelling arguments of belief.

The fourth figure, to which (understandably) special attention was paid in the Baroque era, was revolutionary: three or more concentric circular discs of decreasing size are movable on top of each other and thus allow 84 combinations of the BCD, BCE or CDE types. In the first figure, as a BCD combination, the terms goodness, size and eternity can be linked with one another according to the pattern of the Aristotelian syllogistics. In addition to the three-letter combination, the table attached by Llull also contains a t, which indicates the possible change to another table column: For example, you can move from the column of absolute principles to the column of relative principles by placing a typical question in front of it - for example the B question whether? for combinations starting with B. The combination BCtC then leads to the question “whether the quality is great, provided that it contains the same thing ” (according to Uta Kneller (3) ).

Follow-up works

  • Llull himself completed Ars brevis, a short version of the main work , in 1308 .
  • The first known Lullus interpretation is Pico della Mirandola's Apologia, 1487.
  • Giordano Bruno tries to expand Lull's approach by proposing, for example, in De umbris idearum (From the shadows of ideas) several moveable concentric wheels, each of which would allow a huge variety of combinations with 30 letters.
  • Gottfried Leibniz uses technology to conduct philosophical investigations into the sciences. He named the Llull system ars combinatoria (in: Dissertatio de arte combinatoria, 1666)
  • Athanasius Kircher describes in 1669 in Ars magna sciendi a way of gaining new mathematical knowledge based on llull's combinatorics.
  • Today's computer scientists consider Llull's machine to be the first “universal computer”, and he himself is the forefather of computer science.

Remarks

  1. The compelling source Ramon Llull Database gives 1305-1308.
  2. Translation of the Table of Principles according to Noack, cited above. from Friedrich Kirchner, Dictionary of Basic Philosophical Terms (1907) , where appropriate.
  3. See the web link to the article by Uta Kneller

literature

  • Raimundus Lullus: Ars brevis. Translated and edited with an introduction by Alexander Fidora. Meiner, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-7873-1436-9 .

Web links