Abstract » Léchot
Budapest 2010
Encyclopaedism, Pansophia, and Universal Communication, 1560–1670
Pierre-Olivier LÉCHOT
Dianoia versus Pansophia: John Dury’s Relationship to Bartholomew Keckermann
Throughout his entire life John Dury (c.1600–80), theologian and irenicist, maintained an ambivalent relationship to the thought of Bartholomew Keckermann (1572–1609) and his encyclopedic project. While Dury on the one hand showed great interest in the Keckermannian enterprise, he on the other hand never hesitated to criticise the contents of that enterprise and in particular its reappropriation of Aristotelian philosophy. This paper will reflect on these two sides of Dury’s relationship to Keckermann by retracing a number of biographical elements; by considering Dury’s criticism of the role the Danzig professor had assigned to logic; by noting his appropriation of aspects of the Keckermannian hermeneutic; and by comparing the theological orientation of these two figures. This will finally allow me to identify a number of notable differences in orientation between these two thinkers, and to outline some points for reflection on the relationship of an eminent member of the Hartlib Circle to German post-Ramist thought.
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