From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordA conceived figure understood as an enduring pattern.
- In the bookImaginatio is described as a star in a person and as a celestial and supercelestial body.
- A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 26; facsimile PDF page 354.
Historical definition
Idea is a figure conceived in imagination as a perpetual being, or a pattern of all things of that nature.
Meaning
The definition connects a figure in imagination with a pattern extending to things of the same nature. It is broader than a passing casual thought. The phrase “perpetual being” gives the conceived figure an enduring character within this account, without explaining the manner of that endurance.
The alternative “or a pattern” is an important aid to reading. It directs attention from one imagined example to a form by which a kind of thing can be understood. The dictionary does not identify a particular figure or state how it is acquired.
Use in the book
Imaginatio is described as a star in a person and as a celestial and supercelestial body. Formæ rerum gives a different account of forms through celestial influences or virtues. These connections show a philosophical vocabulary of pattern, faculty and efficacy, but the entries should not be collapsed into one definition of a modern mental state.
Places to read
- IdeaRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- Formæ rerumForms explained through received celestial influences or active virtues.
- ImaginatioImagination described through human, celestial and supercelestial relations.
In this edition
The edition retains the strong historical language of enduring being and pattern. It does not replace it with a claim that every personal image determines the nature of external objects.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 26; facsimile PDF page 354 — Facsimile