Candida Phoenix Philosophica

Name: Candida Phoenix Philosophica
Author: Anonymous

The White Philosophical Phoenix

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Candida Phoenix PhilosophicaPart II — Chapter 13: The Controversy Over Light

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Facing Pages · Branch 311 of 411

Part II — Chapter 13: The Controversy Over Light

Book Mode

German & Latin

203–204

Ad hoc argumentum ex tempore inferebam, quod stare nequeat, his motus rationibus, quia Major, quam S. T. existimabat per se & universaliter veram, mihi videbatur particularis, cum tamen in Prima figura (respondendo scil. primotenus ad formam) non debeat esse particularis propositio vel Terminus major, sicut est quando consideramus, quod etiam Accidentia, quæ non involvunt imperfectionem, & corruptionem, à DEO creata sunt, utpotè attributa, proprietates, qualitates & adjuncta rerum, color, calor, humiditas, frigiditas &c. quæ sunt Accidentia Substantiis suo modo ad- & inhærentia, nisi principium Philosophicum penitùs destruere conemur, quod à nullo unquam Philosopho negatum fuit; quicquid enim est, aut est Substantia aut Accidens, & inter Substantiam & Accidens non datur medium.

Candida Phoenix Philosophica: Part II — Chapter 13: The Controversy Over Light

203–204

I replied at once that the argument could not stand. My reason was that the major premise, which you considered self-evidently and universally true, seemed to me only particular. Yet in the first figure—to answer initially as to form—the major premise must not be particular. We must consider that God also created accidents involving no imperfection or corruption: attributes, properties, qualities, and adjuncts of things, such as colour, heat, moisture, and cold. These are accidents that attach to or inhere in substances in their proper ways. Otherwise we would be trying to overthrow a philosophical principle never denied by any philosopher: whatever exists is either a substance or an accident, with no intermediate between them.

About This Reading Edition

An anonymous Hermetic treatise of 1680, presented in its original German and Latin with a new English translation, 279 explanatory notes, the historical phoenix frontispiece, an introduction, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and original registers.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Candida Phoenix philosophica. Frankfurt am Main: Christian Hermsdorff, 1680. The chosen witness is the Wellcome Library copy digitized as b32993456; German and Latin, with French, Greek, and Hebrew passages retained.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The 1680 source is identified as public domain by the Wellcome/Internet Archive record. The supplied 2026 transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, reading guide, outline, glossary, bibliography, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. The frontispiece is retained from the supplied edition and credited to its historical witness.