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Discordant concord and tempering

discordante concorde; temperie; temperature; temperature; substance equilibre

Discordant concord is agreement achieved between different or contrary qualities.

From the book

Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici

Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordDiscordant concord is agreement achieved between different or contrary qualities.
  • In Sal LumenI.5.3 treats heat and moisture as needing one another while remaining contrary in important respects.
  • In this editionThe English deliberately uses “temper” in II.2.9, and note 115 distinguishes this from numerical temperature.
  • A place to readContrary heat and moisture require a fitting balance for generation; the spirit’s exquisite temperature means balanced qualities, not a numerical heat reading.

Meaning

Discordant concord is agreement achieved between different or contrary qualities. Temperie and temperature concern a fitted constitution or proportion, not a thermometer reading. Balance also appears in the earth's equilibrium, but a balanced cosmic position and a generative temper are distinct applications of ordered relation.

Use in the book

I.5.3 treats heat and moisture as needing one another while remaining contrary in important respects. A suitable temper makes their combined action productive rather than destructive. The spirit's exquisite temperature in I.8.1 names an apt mixture of powers, not an exceptionally high or low degree of heat.

II.2.9 specifies a temper between dry and moist. Salt remains dry and coagulated while retaining an inward moisture from which its dissolving capacity comes. Heat draws this potential into effect. The predicates do not mean that dry and moist have simply cancelled one another or that the same thing is dry in every respect.

The equilibrium passages address the whole earth. Matter settles equally around the lowest central point; any departure from that centre would be an ascent, so the globe cannot fall farther. The Pindaric poem gives water or air a counterbalancing embrace and a firm equal weight. This supports the author's cosmology of stability, not modern mechanics. Its relation to discordant concord is the importance of ordered differences, not a claim that the literal weight of earth is identical with the qualitative temper of a medicine. Both arguments ask how a compound can remain coherent while its components possess different tendencies.

Places to read

  1. Book One · Chapter 5 · Unit 3Contrary heat and moisture require a fitting balance for generation; the spirit’s exquisite temperature means balanced qualities, not a numerical heat reading.
  2. Book One · Chapter 8 · Unit 1Contrary heat and moisture require a fitting balance for generation; the spirit’s exquisite temperature means balanced qualities, not a numerical heat reading.
  3. Book Two · Chapter 2 · Unit 9Balanced constitution between dry and moist, not numerical heat.
  4. Book Two · Chapter 2 · Unit 16Equal settlement around the lowest centre prevents falling in the author's cosmology.
  5. Book Two · Chapter 3 · Unit 19Equal settlement around the lowest centre prevents falling in the author's cosmology.

Translation

The English deliberately uses “temper” in II.2.9, and note 115 distinguishes this from numerical temperature. “Equally balanced substance” and “measured roundness” preserve the different geometric vocabulary of II.2.16 and II.3.19. These passages should not all be indexed simply as heat.

Attested forms

discordante concorde; temperie; exquise temperature; temperature; entre le sec & l'humide; substance equilibre; rondeur spherique; ne peut remuer ny tomber; rondeur compassee; contrebalance; poids si ferme & egal; concorde; equilibre