First Advisor
Richard Beyler
Date of Award
12-9-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in History and University Honors
Department
History
Subjects
Alchemy -- History, Medieval science, Pseudoscience
DOI
10.15760/honors.518
Abstract
Alchemy is one of the longest lived ideas and practices in intellectual history and one of the most habitually misunderstood. Until the 1950's historians of science considered alchemy to be pseudoscience or a facet of magic. Since then historians of alchemy have produced a considerable body of work that is mostly concerned with making corrections and establishing the scientific character of alchemy. Alchemists made significant contributions to chemistry, theology, and medicine. Alchemy itself influenced art, literature, and pop culture. The current literature on alchemy lacks one component, a study of the source of alchemy’s association with magic and relegation to pseudoscience. This research endeavors to contribute to the growing body of research on the history of alchemy by addressing this void. This research concludes that alchemy’s association with the supernatural and pseudoscientific occurred during the process of its translation and transmission from Latin to Arabic in the high medieval period.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/24246
Recommended Citation
Greer, Morgan Taylor, "Translation and Transformation: Uncovering the Source of Alchemy’s Association with Magic through a Study of its Translation into Latin in the High Medieval Period" (2017). University Honors Theses. Paper 513.
https://doi.org/10.15760/honors.518