From the book
Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Heinrich Khunrath · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSpecification is the determining of universal matter toward a definite kind.
- In KhunrathThe early refutation turns upon the persistence of kind: as the seed, so the fruit.
- In this edition“Specified” is kept distinct from merely “specific” in the modern sense of precisely described.
- A reading distinctionThe p. 60–612 marginal gloss insists that specification must be reckoned with; its polemical image makes this a decisive consideration, rather than an incidental vocabulary choice.
Meaning
Specification is the determining of universal matter toward a definite kind. Khunrath repeatedly glosses it with gewiß-geartet, fixed in kind, and with the formula “thus or thus.” It concerns the formative constitution and powers of a thing, not merely the label attached to it or the visible shape it happens to have.
Use in the book
The early refutation turns upon the persistence of kind: as the seed, so the fruit. Particular things may yield philosophical Stones, but those Stones remain special or specified. Gold gives a gold-Stone, silver a silver-Stone, and so with the other instances. Only universal Magnesia yields the universal Stone. Nature's special fiery sparks or seminal reasons supply the formative determination which makes this inference hold.
The distinction is especially exact in the explanation of minerals and metals. Their formative reasons are special or specific, while the Soul of the World to which those reasons belong is catholic. Universal source and particular power are therefore neither confused nor separated into unrelated systems. Nature continually produces differentiated things out of first matter according to determinate measures. Magnesia, however, is left catholic and ensouled with a comprehensive universal spark.
Changing a metal's texture, liquidity or apparent subtlety does not remove its specification. The sustained argument beginning at p. 60 allows many elaborate preparations but denies that they recreate either universal first matter or even the true specified first matter of silver and gold. At p. 117 their separated essential parts remain derived products. This is why an operator cannot infer an original state from a clear liquor or a threefold separation.
Specification is nevertheless not an evil to be avoided in every operation. In the legitimate special way, first matter is impregnated and specified toward silver or gold, and the resulting union acts according to that kind. The universal Stone may likewise be specified after preparation. The concept distinguishes ends and routes, rather than prohibiting all determinate products. The late rejection of pseudo-Magnesias concerns offering specified things as the catholic beginning. It does not retract the positive account of specified Stones.
Places to read
- 1599 p. 19Specified seeds yield specified Stones, not a universal result.
- 1599 p. 21Special sparks specify ordinary things while Magnesia is left catholic.
- 1599 p. 48Mineral and metallic seminal reasons determine matter toward particular kinds.
- 1599 p. 60Preparation does not simply separate specification away from a metal; the argument continues on p. 61.
- 1599 p. 97Legitimate impregnation specifies the catholic matter toward silver or gold.
- 1599 p. 100The completed universal Stone can receive subsequent specification, continued on p. 101.
Translation in this edition
“Specified” is kept distinct from merely “specific” in the modern sense of precisely described. Conversely, the species allowed to Magnesia at p. 66 is explicitly glossed as outward form or figure, not the generative narrowing that the treatise rejects.
Source note
The p. 60–612 marginal gloss insists that specification must be reckoned with; its polemical image makes this a decisive consideration, rather than an incidental vocabulary choice.