Menschen, Tiere, Automaten: Die Debatte über die TierseeleHeinrich C. Kuhn: Vegetable prudence and human instinct in Montecatini Vegetable prudence f. 2r And who, on the other side,

Heinrich C. Kuhn: Vegetable prudence and human instinct in Montecatini

Internationaler WorkshopMenschen, Tiere, Automaten:Die Debatte über dieTierseele(LMU München 2.-3. Juli 2010)

KONZEPT: DR. CECILIA MURATORISeminar für Geistesgeschichte undPhilosophie der RenaissanceLudwigstr. 31, Raum 122Telefon: +49-89-2180 5748Fax: +49-89-2180 [email protected]://www.phil-hum-ren.unimuenchen.de/php/Muratori/ORGANISATIONDr. Cecilia Muratori (LMUexcellentResearch fellow)Kathrin Schlierkamp M.A.


Freitag, 02.07.10Aspekte der Debatte über dieTierseele vor Descartes



Acknowledgements


Vegetable prudence and human instinct in Montecatini



Leohartus Fuchsius: Primi de stirpium historia commentariorum tomi vivae imagines, Basileae 1549 / BSB Phyt. 182 a / http://daten.digitale-

sammlungen.de/~db/0003/bsb00034002/images/

Source Luis Fernández García L. Fdez / 2005-08-21.file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.1 Spain license.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Luis_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Garc%C3%ADa

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Luis_Fern%C3%A1ndez_Garc%C3%ADa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Creative_Commons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Creative_Commons

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.1/es/deed.en






Karl Ernst Georges: Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch.Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlun1913/18) (Reprint Darmstadt [wbg] 1998)http://images.zeno.org/Georges-

1913/K/big/Georges-1913-02-2052.png



Karl Ernst Georges: Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch.Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlun1913/18) (Reprint Darmstadt [wbg] 1998)http://images.zeno.org/Georges-

1913/K/big/Georges-1913-02-2052.png

→

☺



?







http://www.phil-hum-ren.uni-

muenchen.de/SekLit/hck20091217.pdf

(PDF version of slides used for a talk given at "Bibliotheksnacht in der Bibliothek Theologie-Philosophie2009-12-17", German, 17.1 MB)

http://www.phil-hum-ren.uni-muenchen.de/SekLit/hck20091217.pdf









Search "Web4Ren Forum (W4RF)" for"Montecatini":http://www.phil-hum-ren.uni-

muenchen.de/Versiones/Montecatini1561a09.pdf

&http://epub.ub.uni-

muenchen.de/11328/1/0100_CD_2065_M773.pdf


Vegetable prudence


Vegetable prudencef. 2r

<antiperistasis ...: >

A form lacking all cognition

(consider it o.k. to use

philosophical language when

dealing with philosophical

subjects) - or in possession

of an extremely small

shadow of the First

Cognoscens - to strive with

admirable power that it isn't

ejected from what is good for

it: this is indeed something

worth of admiration, but

not more than that - let me

put it like this - prudence

which is often observed in

plants when they hate and

avoid which is harmful to

them, whereas they

embrace and love what is

useful for them.



Who taught vines to turn

into the opposite direction

whenever ever it senses a

cabbage near it, whereby it

entwines all its twigs and

tendrils and as if fleeing a

storm or an enemy

contracts its branches into

a single small place?



And who, on the other

side, who imparted the

sense due to which a

<female> elm which is

connected to its husband

grows more beautiful and

also gives better fruits?

What to say about the hate

between a walnut tree and

an oak tree? and about the

love between garlic and

lily?



Corrolarium:Corrolarium:

Antipathy and love between plants, and Antipathy and love between plants, and

Montecatini'sMontecatini's potential sources. potential sources.


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage

oak trees and walnut trees hate each other


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage

oak trees and walnut trees hate each other

female elms love male elms

garlic and lily love each other


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage,

oak trees and walnut trees hate each

other


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage,


other

Pliny hist.nat. XXIV c.1 § 1:Ne silvae quidem horridiorque naturae facies

medicinis carent, sacra illa parente rerum

omnium nusquam non remedia disponente

homini, ut medicina fieret etiam solitudo ipsa,

et ad singula illius discordia atque

concordiae miraculis occursantibus.

quercus et olea tam pertinaci odio

dissident, ut altera in alterius scrobe

depacta emoriantur, quercus vero et

iuxta nucem iuglandem. pernicialia

et brassicae cum vite odia; ipsum

olus, quo vitis fugatur, adversum

cyclamino et origano arescit.


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage,


other

Pliny hist.nat. XXIV c.1 § 1:quercus vero et iuxta nucem

iuglandem. pernicialia et brassicae cum

vite odiahttp://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Rom

an/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/24*.html


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage,

Pliny hist.nat. XXIV c.1 § 1:

quercus vero et iuxta nucem


vite odia

Girolamo Fracastoro: De Sympathia

& Antipathia rerum ..., Lugduni 1550 , p. 109


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbage,


other

Pernicialia sunt brassicæ, & vitis odia, ac spectanda earum dimicatio: vitis enim cum intortis clauiculis omnia complecti soleat, solam refugit brassicam: nam propèsentiens, in aduersam partem se torquet, vtsi quis eam admoneret hostem esse in propinquo, dumque coquitur brassica, vinumvel si paucissimum instilles, nec coquitur, necipsius color constat.

Giambattista Dalla Porta: Magia Naturalis I (1558) (transcr. Laura Balbiani) http://homepages.tscnet.com/omard1/jportab1.html


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r

CorrolariumCorrolarium CorrolariiCorrolarii::



vines hate cabbage,

Pliny hist.nat. XXIV c.1 § 1:

quercus vero et iuxta nucem


vite odia




Vegetable prudence


Antipathy and love between plants. Antipathy and love between plants.

Some plants X hate some plants Y,

and some plants A love some plants B




Vegetable prudence

Francis Bacon: Sylva Sylvarum, exp. 479 (before 1627 [ed. 1859])








Vegetable prudence

Francis Bacon: Sylva Sylvarum, exp. 479 (before 1627 [ed. 1859])






Vegetable prudence



some plants A love some plants B

garlic loving lilies:


Vegetable prudence




garlic loving lilies: √


Vegetable prudence




garlic loving lilies: √

♀ elms loving ♂ elms: ???


Vegetable prudence






Vegetable prudence





Montecatini's solution:

Vegetable prudence


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r




vines hate cabbageoak trees and walnut trees hate each other← Dalla Porta, Fracastoro Pliny




Vegetable prudence

f. 2r







No sourcesfound for this☹


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r







No sourcesfound for this☹

No sources found forthis either ☹


Vegetable prudence

f. 2r






No sources found forthis☹

No sources found forthis either, but ...


Vegetable prudence




female elms love male elms No sources found forthis either, but ...

Columella: De re rustica V c. 6 § 17: " At si teneram ulmum

maritaveris, onus iam non sufferet; si vetustae vitem applicueris, coniugem

necabit." (Marrying elms, but: Not about marrying elm to elm)

http://la.wi

kisource.org

/wiki/De_Re_

Rustica/Libe

r_V

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippade Nettesheim: De occultaPhilosophia I.17 (<Cologne> 1533) , p. 22http://diglib.hab.de/wdb.php?dir=d

rucke/77-1-quod-2f-2

Male and female palm trees like each other, and almonds

produce better if not solitary.


Beyond vegetable prudence


Beyond vegetable prudence

f. 2rs Not only in plants, but

also in minerals,

metals, stones, waters

and winds you get

antipathies and

sympathies: natural

affectus of friendship

and enmity.


And beyond


And beyond: Animalsf. 2v

Animals strive to

preserve their

bonum, that which is

good for them, i.e.

sensual perception



Animals strive to

preserve their


good form them, i.e.

sensual perception,

and they do this by

well known amazing

actions



Animals strive to

preserve their


good form them, i.e.

sensual perception,

and they do this by

well known amazing

actions,

as i.a. in the case of

lambs who are afraid

of wolves, even in

case they have never

before seen one.


ContextThe reason for all this is:

f. 3rThe communis boni

essentia (that which

everything is about) is

the preservation of

the world.


ContextThe reason for all this is:

f. 3rThe communis boni

essentia (that which

everything is about) is

the preservation of

the world.

The world is animated,

and in all appetition

there is something

divine.

And this amor, this

natural love, is Dei

particeps, participates

in god.


And now: Humansf. 3r


Humansf. 3r

Many important people agree that everything was made by God and nature because of man.


Humansf. 3r

Many important people agree that everything was made by God and

nature because of man.

Sounds good. ☺


Humansf. 3r

Many important people agree that everything was made by God and

nature because of man.

Sounds good. ☺

Sounds very good ☺


Humansf. 3r

But:

Whosoever says that man doesn't have a proper final cause, a goal: whosoever says this is terribly mistaken.


Humansf. 3r

f. 3v

The human bonum

is that by which

human nature is

perfected and

conserved.

As men are only men

because of their

intellect: the human

bonum is that action

by which the human

intellect acquires its

special excellence.


Humansf. 4v

The

contemplation

and cognition

of God, the

conjunction

with God.

I skipped some longish doxography ...


Humansf. 4v

3 steps:

1) all appetition

and all action

according to

reason.

2) contemplation of

God

3) love and visit

God


human instinct

f. 7r

This is

behaviour

according to

instinct,

instinct of the

mind/intellect,

a specifically

human

instinct.

Once again I skipped some longish doxography, which shows that all relevant authors agree on this ...

f. 6v


The rest of Montecatini's text, the last ca. 22% of the whole, is dedicated to Ethics, and the question how to teach Aristotle's NicomacheanEthics.



Certainly a valid topic for a text like Montecatini's, which is, after all, an introductory lecture to his lecture course on ethics - Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics!



Certainly a valid topic for a text like Montecatini's, which is, after all, an introductory lecture to his lecture course on ethics - Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics -,but not the topic of my talk here today!


The whole world shares a common goal: its preservation, and it participates in god.



Plants act wisely because of vegetable prudence.




Animals act wisely because of inborn knowledge, because of instinct.


The whole world shares a common goal: its preservation, and participates with god.


Animals act wisely because of inborn knowledge, because of instinct.

Humans achieve their proper goal, that what is good for them (the cognition of and conjunction with god) because of human instinct.


According to Montecatini - at least the way I read him -

it is not plants and animals who are similar to humans (as e.g. in the

case of Plutarchus's (ed. 1534, f. iiiv)),


According to Montecatini - at least the way I read him -

it is not plants and humans who are similar to humans (as e.g. in the

case of Plutarchus's (ed. 1534, f. iiiv)),

but it is humans who are similar to animals and plants

in their acting according to inborn desire/instinct.


Considering animals as essentially similar to humans can lead to vegetarianism (cf. e.g. Plutarchus De sollertia animalium, Porphyry De abstinentia ab esu animalium).

FotoosVanRobinhttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reindeer_steak.jpgcc-by-sa-2.0

hck1

Folie 64

hck1 I DID mention at (more or less) this point of that presentation that as far as I can see vegetarianism and/or our (non-)justification to eat or drink products based on animals (or plants) killed for their production was not one of MONTECATINI's topics and/or concerns in his 1560/61 "Praelectio in libros de moribus".Heinrich C. Kuhn; 05.07.2010


Considering animals as essentially similar to humans can lead

to vegetarianism (cf. e.g. Plutarchus De sollertia animalium,

Porphyry De abstinentia ab esu animalium).


Extending that to plants might also

cost us the justification to eat

vegetables and drink plant based

beverages.

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/5aday/month/cucumber.htm

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dornfelder_grapes.jpgcc-sa


However, as according to Montecatini - at least the way I read him - it is not

plants and animals who are similar to humans (e.g. Plutarchus's

(ed. 1534, f. iiiv)), but it is humans who are similar to animals


and plants in their acting according to

inborn desire/instinct:

we face no danger to have to die from



hunger

or

thirst.

☺





Montecatini saves our being justified to eat and drink food and

beverages made at the expense of animals and plants.


Yes, Montecatini saves our being justified to eat and drink food and

beverages made at the expense of animals and plants.

But:


In Montecatini's world

there is no place

for human autonomy or freedom.


But:


But:We who are present here are at least free to discuss on the content of my presentation,


But:We who are present here are at least free to discuss on the content of my presentation, now right here


But:We who are present here are at least free to discuss on the content of my presentation, now right here,

and a bit later, in the break, also participating in some plant based beverage.



ThanksThanks in in

advanceadvance forfor

youryour

responseresponse!!





Documents

Menschen, Tiere, Automaten: Die Debatte über die TierseeleHeinrich C. Kuhn: Vegetable prudence and human instinct in Montecatini Vegetable prudence f. 2r And who, on the other side,