Robert Fludd
Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus (17 January 1574, Bearsted, Kent – 8 September 1637, London) was a prominent English Paracelsian physician, astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist, Rosicrucian apologist. He was not a member of the Rosicrucians, as often alleged, but he defended their thoughts in the Apologia Compendiaria of 1616.[1]
Life
He was the son of Sir Thomas Fludd, a high-ranking governmental official (Queen Elizabeth I's treasurer for war in Europe).
He obtained an MD from University of Oxford.
Between 1598 and 1604, Fludd studied medicine, chemistry and the occult on the European mainland, but he is best known for his research in occult philosophy. He had a celebrated exchange of views with Johannes Kepler concerning the scientific and hermetic approaches to knowledge.[2]
Works
His philosophy is presented in Utriusque Cosmi, Maioris scilicet et Minoris, metaphysica, physica, atque technica Historia (The metaphysical, physical, and technical history of the two worlds, namely the greater and the lesser, published in Germany between 1617 and 1621);[3] according to Frances Yates, his memory system (which she describes in detail in The Art of Memory, pp. 321–341) may reflect the layout of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (The Art of Memory, Chapter XVI).
In 1618, Fludd wrote De Musica Mundana (Mundane Music) which described his theories of music, including his mundane (also known as "divine" or "celestial") monochord.[4]
In 1630, Fludd proposed many perpetual motion machines. People were trying to patent variations of Fludd's machine in the 1870s. Fludd's machine worked by recirculation by means of a water wheel and Archimedean screw. The device pumps the water back into its own supply tank.[5][6]
Fludd was the first person to discuss the circulation of the blood, and did in fact arrive at the correct conclusion. His conclusion was based on the macrocosm-microcosm analogy, a theory in which all occurrences in the microcosm (man) are influenced by the macrocosm (the heavens). His theory was that the blood must circulate because the heart is like the sun and the blood like the planets [7] and, by this time, it was known that the planets orbit the sun. William Harvey later explained the circulation of blood in more modern and experimental terms, though still referring to the macrocosm-microcosm analogy of Fludd.
Fludd also produced an influential diagram describing the process of perception used in the study of perception, consciousness and psychology. In this diagram, Fludd wanted to explain the nature of the perceptible world as being classified into the four realms of sensual, imaginable, intellectual and sensible. He describes how these realms are perceived by the psychological faculties which he classified in three pairs; science and imagination, conscience and reflection, and, memory and motive. The diagram shows the interplay and connection between the different psychological faculties within the psyche and their relation to the perceptible world. The soul is described as being present in all the three parts of the psych, always as the intersection between a pair of psychological faculties. Conscience and reflection are also attributed rational, intellectual and human qualities.
The frontal lobe is the residence of science and imagination that perceive the 'first element' of sense and image. The 'intellectual realm penetrates' to the centre and is grasped by conscience and reflection through their three qualities. At the back of the head, memory is dependent on motive to perceive 'fact' as sensible from the partially 'guarded' memory and vision.
The 'connection' between the head and the rest of the psyche in the body 'happens through the spinal cord'.[8]
In popular culture
In conspiracy theories, such as the one promoted in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Fludd has been alleged to be the sixteenth Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion.
Robert Fludd is an important secondary character in Mary Gentle's novel A Sundial in a Grave: 1610.
Robert Fludd's Sephirothic Tree is used in the Neon Genesis Evangelion and the Fullmetal Alchemist anime and/or manga series.
Notes
- ^ William H. Huffman, Robert Fludd and the end of the Renaissance (Routledge London & New York, 1988)
- ^ Wolfgang Pauli, Wolfgang Pauli – Writings on physics and philosophy, translated by Robert Schlapp and edited by P. Enz and Karl von Meyenn (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1994), Section 21, The influence of archetypical ideas on the scientific theories of Kepler. ISBN 354-05685-9X, ISBN 978-354-05685-99.
- ^ Karsten Kenklies, Wissenschaft als Ethisches Programm. Robert Fludd und die Reform der Bildung im 17. Jahrhundert (Jena, 2005)
- ^ Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic, and Rosicrucian symbolical philosophy (H.S. Crocker Company, Inc., 1928)
- ^ http://www.uh.edu/engines/pmm1.jpg
- ^ http://www.windmillworld.com/mills/images/fludd1618.gif
- ^ William H. Huffman, ed., Robert Fludd: Essential Readings, London: Aquarian/Thorsons, 1992
- ^ Fludd's diagram of perception. The words in ' ' have been translated from the Latin which Fludd writes in the diagram.
Further reading
- Allen G. Debus, The English Paracelsians, New York: Watts, 1965.
- Tita French Baumlin, "Robert Fludd," The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 281: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660, Second Series, Detroit: Gale, 2003, pp. 85–99.
- James Brown Craven, Doctor Fludd (Robertus de Fluctibus), the English Rosicrucian: Life and Writings, Kirkwall: William Peace & Son, 1902.
- Joscelyn Godwin, Robert Fludd: Hermetic Philosopher and Surveyor of Two Worlds, London: Thames and Hudson, 1979.
- Frances A. Yates, The Art of Memory, London: Routledge, 1966.
- William H. Huffman, ed., Robert Fludd: Essential Readings, London: Aquarian/Thorsons, 1992.
- Johannes Rösche, Robert Fludd. Der Versuch einer hermetischen Alternative zur neuzeitlichen Naturwissenschaft (Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008).
External links
- Robert Fludd biography at Levity
- Fludd's magnum opus, 'Utriusque Cosmi maioris salicet et minoris metaphysica..' (1617–1619) is available as ZIP or PDF download.
- A large section of 'Utriusque Cosmi maioris salicet et minoris metaphysica..' is available as page images at the University of Utah.
- Online originals of works by Robert Fludd
- JR Ritman Library: Treasures from the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
- Robert Fludd chronology
- 1574 births
- 1637 deaths
- 16th-century English people
- 17th-century English medical doctors
- Alumni of the University of Oxford
- Christian Kabbalists
- English astrologers
- 16th-century astrologers
- 17th-century astrologers
- English mathematicians
- 16th-century mathematicians
- 17th-century mathematicians
- English occult writers
- 16th-century writers
- 17th-century writers
- Hermeticists
- Paracelsians
- People from Bearsted
- Western mystics
- People of the Tudor period
- People of the Stuart period
- English music theorists