From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
The craftsperson who cannot handle another’s tools supplies an analogy for knowledge without practical competence. Instrumenta are actual tools in this comparison; later the homunculus passage calls extraordinary beings instruments of great things, a different extension of the noun. The dedication’s point is that contempt may come from not knowing a thing’s use, rather than from a successful refutation of its worth.
Places to read
- Dedication to Johann Winckelsteiner · Passage 5Latin“unus opifex alterius instrumenta tractare nescit”