Das gute Leben in einstürzenden Welten: Paracelsus, Valentin Weigel und Jakob Böhme

Document Type

Chapter

Publication Date

2012

Abstract

A misunderstanding categorizes Paracelsus as a pioneer of Renaissance science and segregates him from his Spiritualist successors Valentin Wei-gel and Jacob Böhme. The core of his work is religious-philosophical and anticlerical. His programmatic writings are theoretical and serve the legitimation of his authority rather than the description of the world. Unlike the early opportunistic proponents of his medical fame, his Spiritualist successors carried forward his antiauthoritarian tradition with more far-reaching consequences for posterity. In order to clarify such issues, we need a complete critical edition of the works of Paracelsus.

Comments

This chapter was originally published as “Das gute Leben in einstürzenden Welten: Paracelsus, Valentin Weigel und Jakob Boehme,” in Gutes Leben und guter Tod von der Spätantike bis zur Gegenwart: Ein philosophisch-ethischer Diskurs über die Jahrhunderte hinweg, ed. Albrecht Classen (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012), 137-55 (18 pages).

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