The Conception of Man in the Works of John Amos Comenius

239 Pages·2016·9.1 MB·English

by  Jan Čížek

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EUROPESATNU DIIENST HEOLOGY,
PHILOSOAPNHDYH ISTOORFYR ELIGIONS
Edited by Bartosz Adamczewski
VOL. 15
•PETER LANG
EDITION
Jan Cizek
The Conception of
Man in the Works of
John Amos Comenius
•PETER LANG
EDITION
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
NameCsi:zJ eak1n,9, 8 a6u-thor.
TitTlhece:o nceopmft ainio ntn h weo rokfsJ oAhmnoC so men/Ji auns
Cizek.
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IdentLiCfiCe2Nr0 s1:6 0J1I7 S7B98N79 8 3631678732
SubjLeCcStCHso::m enJiouhsaA,nm no1 s5,9 2-IP1h 6i7l0o.s aonpthhircoa­l
pology.
ClassiLfiCcBCa4 t8i0o5nC.:5C 2960 41ID 6D C1 28.09L2Cr- edccao2vr3ad i l­
abalhtet tps://lccn.loc.gov/2016017789
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ISS2N1 92-1857
ISB9N7 8-3-63(1P-r6i7n8t7)3 -2
E-IS9B7N8 -3-65(3E--0B7o0o1k0)- 1
DO1I0 .3726/978-3-653-07010-1
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Contents
Foreword .................................................................................................................... 9
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................1 1
2. Comenius's work in view of his conception of man ....................1 5
2.1 Characterisation and periodisation of Comenius's work .....................1 5
2.2 De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica
and other works from the panorthotic period ......................................1 8
2.3 Works from the pre-pansophic and pansophic periods .......................2 5
3. De rerum humanarum emendatione consultatio catholica ....2 7
3.1 Europae lumina, salvete, and Panegersia ................................................2 7
3.2 Panaugia .....................................................................................................3 6
3.3 Pansophia ...................................................................................................3 9
3.3.1 Mundus possibilis ............................................................................ 39
3.3.2 Mundus idealis ................................................................................. 42
3.3.3 Mundus angelicus ............................................................................ 43
3.3.4 Mundus materialis ........................................................................... 44
3.3.5 Mundus artificialis ........................................................................... 65
3.3.6 Mundus moralis ............................................................................... 73
3.3.7 Mundus spiritualis ........................................................................... 78
3.3.8 Mundus aeternus ............................................................................. 83
3.4 Pampaedia ..................................................................................................8 7
3.5 Panglottia, Panorthosia, and Pannuthesia ...............................................9 3
5
4. Comenius's conception of man in the
Consuals at syastetmi? ..o..... ................................................................. 105
4.1 Terminological inconsistencies ............................................................ 105
4.2 The ontological primacy of reason, or will? Paunagia
versus the rest of the Consultatio ......................................................... 110
4.3 The ontological primacy of free will, or
the immortal human mind? .................................................................. 116
4.4 The question of human nature ............................................................. 120
5. The conception of man in selected works
of the panorthotic period ..................................................................... 127
5.1 The transition between the pansophic and
panorthotic periods. ............................................................................... 127
5.1.1 Pansophiae praeludium. ................................................................ 127
5.1.2 Conatuum pansophicorum dilucidatio ...................................... 129
5.1.3 Pansophiae diatyposis ................................................................... 131
5.2 Texts from the panorthotic period ....................................................... 134
5.2.1 Via lucis ............................................................................................ 134
5.2.2 Angelus pads. ................................................................................. 139
5.2.3 Unum necessarium ........................................................................ 141
5.2.4 Janua rerum reserata ..................................................................... 146
5.2.5 Clamores Eliae. ............................................................................... 149
6. The conception of man in the works of the
preparatory and pansophic periods ................................................. 159
6.1 Theatrum universitatis rerum ............................................................... 159
6.2 Amphitheatrum universitatis rerum ................................................... 162
6.3 Letters to Heavens .................................................................................. 163
6.4 The Mournful .......................................................................................... 163
6.5 Lab inth of the World and Paradise of the Heart... .......................... 165
yr
6
6.6 Centrum securitatis and Renuntiatio mundi. ..................................... 167
6.7 Didactics .................................................................................................. 170
6.8 Prima philosophia .................................................................................. 173
6.9 Physicae synopsis ................................................................................... 174
7.Th ec onceopfmt ainoi nnt hweo rokfs
JohAnm oCso men.i.u.s. ............1.7.9. ..........................................................
8.P ossibloef C soomuernccieousns c'es.p .t.i.o.n. .1.85. .........................
9.C omeniaunst'hsr oipnso clhoogllyai rtle.yr. a.t.u.r1.9e5 . ................
10S.u mma.r.y. ..................20.1 ................................................................................
Abbreviaanrtdei foenrlsei .ns.ct.e.. .... .......20.5 ................................................
Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 205
Internet sources. .............................................................................................. 205
Sources ............................................................................................................. 206
Secondary sources .......................................................................................... 209
IndoefNx a me.....s..... ........................................................................................ 231
7

Foreword
I oegan my inquiries into the work of the Czech philosopher, theologian, writer
and not least educational reformer Jan Amos Comenius during my undergradu­
ate studies. First of all I attempted to place Comenius's philosophical and theo­
logical views within the context of the thought of the Unity of Czech Brethren
church, which was founded in the second half of the 15th century on the basis
of the teachings of the religious thinker Petr Chelcicky, and in which Comenius
was a bishop. In subsequent studies I focused primarily on Comenius's relation­
ship towards the philosophical work of the Renaissance philosopher Franciscus
Patricius or the encyclopaedist from Herborn, Johann Heinrich Alsted. However,
for a long time during that period I was also cultivating the idea of compiling a
work devoted exclusively to Comenius, which would deal in a complex manner
with his conception of man. This became the focus of my entire doctoral studies,
which I underwent at the Department of Philosophy of Palacky University in
Olomouc from 2010 to 2014.
To a certain extent this book is based on my dissertation work, nevertheless
it broadens and expands upon its content to a considerable degree. Unlike the
dissertation, it maps the entire development of Comenius's considerations on
man, from his earliest writings to his philosophical masterwork. By contrast, the
original version was focused precisely and solely on the later form of Comenius's
stances.
Although this book is a priori aimed at an analysis and description of the con­
ception of man in Comenius's work, it may serve the reader also as a more gen­
eral introduction to his philosophical conception. As I show in the following text,
although Comenius has received no small amount of academic attention, funded
studies or monographs in English lan age remain in single fi res, and thus a
gu gu
range of Comenius's remarkable ideas are still unknown to the wider public.
For their support in the compilation of this work and for their valuable advice
and assistance with procuring frequently obscure and difficult to access litera­
ture I would like to thank Tomas Nejeschleba, Paul Richard Blum, Pavel Floss,
Vladimir Urbanek, Ladislav Chvatal, Martin Zemla, Jifi Michalik, Petr Pavlas and
Roman Kucsa.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family, above all my 'dear wife
Blanka -for her understanding, helpfulness and support.
As a whole, this book is a result of the research funded by the Czech Sci­
ence Foundation as the project GA CR 14-37038G "Between Renaissance and
9
Baroque: Philosophy and Knowledge in the Czech Lands within the Wider Eu­
ropean Context':
Work on this publication was enabled also thanks to the grant subsidy of the
Jan Hus Educational Foundation (allocated for the academic year 2012/2013)
and the Frantisek Topic Endowment Fund (grant allocated for 2015).
Olomouc, spring 2016
J.C.
10