Gnostologia: The Discipline of the Objects of Knowledge in Seventeenth-Century Germany

Abstract

In the seventeenth century, with the sunset of the Renaissance and the rise of early modern thought, new philosophical disciplines emerged from the ashes of the Aristotelian tradition, which had dominated the previous three centuries. Some of these, like ontology, still exist today; others had a short life. An innovative philosophical agenda was imposed: the old system of knowledge was rehashed, and a new encyclopedia of sciences was established. Part of this process was the rise and fall of the discipline of gnostologia. The aim of this essay is to narrate its history.