in magician (Harvard University, December), historian Grafton traces the relationship between Renaissance magic and the birth of science.
How did you arrive at this topic?
I noticed a connection between two rather different areas of Renaissance invention: the invention of working machines and the invention of the display of magical powers.
What does magic mean in this context?
In this case, “natural magic” is the idea that plants have power, and stones also have power. And they are not occult forces in the sense that they are not demonic. The idea is that we see these forces occurring on a regular basis. We see that they are part of the natural order. “Acquired magic” is a type of magic that uses natural magic and spiritual power. For example, a place where rituals are held. Fumigate, burn incense and use amulets.
Why start the book with Johann Georg Faust, the inspiration for the character of Doctor Faustus in Christopher Marlowe’s play?
It’s because he’s putting all these pursuits together at this moment when others are putting them all together in books. However, he comes to be looked down upon as a completely peripheral figure. And it’s also true that the type of magic he does isn’t all that great. However, he seems to be quite good at some magic.projection of his image [with a kind of proto-magic lantern] It was clearly effective.
What role did the printing press and bookbinding play in legitimizing magic?
What is really interesting is how Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa created this wonderful book with the original author’s photo. In other words, this is not a photograph, but a woodblock print. But the title page has the author’s own image, which becomes a model for others to use. This gave the book a certain deep authority. But at the same time it was condemned by the Inquisition. Possessing it can get you into trouble. This is simultaneously an example of the legitimate power of print, how something so impressive can give it authority, and the power of print to subvert authority.
You write about magicians as self-mythologized inventors.
when i saw oppenheimer, I saw him as this real magician figure. No one has mythologised himself more than Oppenheimer. So this mythologizing approach can also be applied to what actually works. But, of course, it can also be applied to things that go wrong, just like Faustus, as we see from Elizabeth Holmes and Sam His Bankman He Freed. We are not yet very good at establishing criteria for distinguishing the fake from the real, the actual amazing results from the ones that just seem amazing.
A version of this article was published in the October 9, 2023 issue. Publishers Weekly Under the heading: Science and Magic