Institute of Continuing Education (ICE)
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Can life be created from lifeless matter? Is it possible to transform natural substances? And can the knowledge of nature be a path to spiritual transformation? These are questions that fascinated early modern philosophers interested in alchemy. This course will reveal the rich philosophical foundations of alchemy, with a main focus on early modernity and the writings of thinkers such as Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (known as Paracelsus), and Jacob Böhme. Key ideas that will be discussed are the theory (and practice) of artificially creating life, the connection between the study of nature and its transformation, and the use of alchemy as a spiritual practice. The course ends with an excursus into the literary afterlives of these ideas, offering in particular a new approach to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.