From the book
Sal Lumen and Spiritus Mundi Philosophici
Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Meaning
III.17 compares the rival kinds of philosophy through the difference between light pumice and heavy lead. The point is relative weight or substance: an inquiry that reaches the heart and marrow of things is presented as having a solidity that surface-level conjecture lacks. These named materials are vehicles of comparison, not components of an operation.
The sentence's pronouns must be followed through the opposition rather than assigned mechanically to the nearest prestigious word. The author's criticism falls on the philosophy he presents as groping and conjectural, while the inward philosophy receives the positive weight. The mountain summit and surface-crawling images in the same passage reinforce this contrast of intellectual vantage and depth.
Places to read
- Book Three · Unit 17An extreme light-heavy comparison gives rhetorical weight to true philosophy against scholastic learning.
Word family
Pierre ponce and plomb: unequal weight as an image of unequal knowledge. Exact historical spellings are listed separately.
Attested forms
balance; poids; ponce & le plomb; ponce; plomb