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Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine

 

Introduction     Unit 1     Unit 2     Unit 3

How  Magic

Became  Science

Background Information     Key Concepts

2.A Magic and Science: A Fine Line
2.B Magic, Empiricism, and the Case of Paracelsus
2.C Practical Magic: The Alchemies of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton


Background

In the Harry Potter novels, J. K. Rowling creates an intriguing juxtaposition between our own modern world—the “Muggle” world—and the magical world inhabited by Harry and his friends. In the eyes of most wizards and witches, Muggle technology and medicine is strange, even laughable; in their own world, magic has replaced modern science and technology, and is in some ways vastly superior to them.

Today, we find it difficult to imagine connections between magic and science outside of the realm of fiction. Historically, however, these two things were closer than most people today would suspect—in some ways, they were in fact indistinguishable from one another. There is ample evidence that the foundations of modern science and medicine were established first in the magical philosophies of the Renaissance—everything from the experimental method to the theory of gravitation. Ultimately, we are more indebted to Renaissance magic and occultism than most would imagine.

This unit examines how elements of these magical traditions were borrowed and adapted by philosophers as they created what we today recognize as science. Alchemy, for example, was a practical and experimental enterprise that provided the foundations for modern chemistry, and both Robert Boyle (1627-1691) and Isaac Newton (1643-1727) were avid alchemists. The theoretical foundations of many occult philosophies were also instrumental in shaping our modern scientific method—as one example, the itinerant physician Paracelsus (1493-1541) espoused a thorough empiricism as the cornerstone of both natural philosophy and medicine. He taught that, in order to manipulate nature, one first has to unlock its secrets through examination and study, and that the naturalist should look to nature itself for answers rather than to books or the words of others.

“Magic comprises the most profound contemplation of the most secret things, their nature, power, quality, substance, and virtues, as well as the knowledge of their whole nature.” — Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, De Occulta Philosophia, 1533

“Magick is nothing else but the knowledge of the whole course of Nature. …..It openeth unto us the properties and qualities of hidden things, and it teacheth us by the agreement and disagreement of things, either so to sunder them, or else to lay them so together, as thereby we do strange works…. Wherefore, as many of you as come to behold Magick, must be persuaded that the works of Magick are nothing else but the works of Nature, whose dutiful hand-maid Magick is.” — Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magick, 1658

“There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.” - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J. K. Rowling

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Key Concepts

  1. A variety of scientific disciplines have their roots in magical or occult traditions. Magic, which was thought of as the manipulation of unseen forces, bears striking resemblances to modern science.
  2. Because magical philosophies emphasized the use and study of hidden or secret virtues, they tended to encourage the value of empiricism and hands-on experience of the natural world.
  3. Magic could be theoretical or practical in scope, just like science today.
  4. Esoteric traditions, like alchemy, were often a prime breeding-ground for ideas about the study of nature as well as models for the development of modern scientific practices.

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2.A Magic and Science: A Fine Line

Primary Sources

  • Della Porta, Giambattista. Natural Magick. London, 1658. (Republished 2004)
  • Von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Translated by Donald Tyson and James Freake. 1993.

Secondary Sources

  • Yates, Frances. Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.
  • Hunter, Michael. The Occult Laboratory: Magic, Science, and Second Sight in Late 17th-Century Scotland. London: Boydell Press, 2001.
  • Henry, John. “The Fragmentation of Renaissance Occultism and the Decline of Magic.” History of Science 46 (2008): 1-48.
  • Zetterberg, J. Peter. “The Mistaking of 'the Mathematicks' for Magic in Tudor and Stuart England.” Sixteenth Century Journal 11, no. 1 (1980): 83-97.

Visual Resources

Illustration of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Illustration of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, De Occulta Philosophia, 1533. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, De Occulta Philosophia, 1533
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine

Discussion Questions

  1. What were some of the factors that contributed to the “fragmentation” of occultism? Which specific fragments worked their way into the development of modern science and medicine?
  2. Past peoples sometimes confused technology for magic because they were ignorant of the causes operating to produce particular effects, but do we really understand the technology of today any better? Or are we simply less concerned about our collective ignorance?

Suggested Student Exercise

  • Describe a sophisticated piece of technology (i.e., a television, a mobile phone, a computer) as if you were talking to a 16th-century person. Now try describing it as if talking to a 21st-century person. What's different, and what remains the same?

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2.B Magic, Empiricism, and the Case of Paracelsus

Primary Sources

  • Jolande Jacobi, ed., Paracelsus: Selected Writings. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995.

Secondary Sources

  • Ball, Philip. The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science. New York, 2006.
  • Smith, Pamela H. The Body of the Artisan: Art and Experience in the Scientific Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
  • Baldwin, Martha. “The Snakestone Experiments: An Early Modern Medical Debate.” Isis 86, no. 3 (1995): 394-418.

Visual Resources

Illustration of Paracelsus. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Illustration of Paracelsus
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine
Illustration of a universal correspondence from Benedictus Figulus, Man, the Best and Most Perfect of God's Creatures, 1608.
Illustration of a universal correspondence from Benedictus Figulus, Man, the Best and Most Perfect of God's Creatures, 1608
Illustration of a universal correspondence from Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi majoris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia, 1617-1621. Courtesy National Library of Medicine.
Illustration of a universal correspondence from Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi majoris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia, 1617-1621
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine

Discussion Questions

  1. Why was empiricism such an important part of many magical traditions?
  2. Can we call Paracelsus a sort of “proto-scientist”? Why or why not?
  3. Are there modern parallels with, or analogues of, Paracelsian ideas?

Suggested Student Exercise

  • Imagine a conversation with Paracelsus: how would you describe modern science and medicine in terms he would understand?

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2.C Practical Magic: The Alchemies of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton

Primary Sources

  • On the history of alchemy: Newman, William R., ed. The Summa perfectionis of Pseudo-Geber. Brill Academic Publishers, 1991.
  • On early modern alchemical practice: Boyle, Robert. On Transmutation of Metals. In The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest, by Lawrence M. Principe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.

Secondary Sources

  • Newman, William R. Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
  • Principe, Lawrence M. The Aspiring Adept: Robert Boyle and his Alchemical Quest. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
  • Dobbs, Betty Jo Teeter. The Janus Faces of Genius: The Role of Alchemy in Newton's Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
  • Principe, Lawrence M. “The Alchemies of Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton: Alternate Approaches and Divergent Deployments.” In Rethinking the Scientific Revolution, edited by Margaret J. Osler. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Visual Resources

Illustration of an alchemy workshop from Johann Mylius, Opus Medico-Chymicum, 1618-1620. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Illustration of an alchemy workshop from Johann Mylius,
Opus Medico-Chymicum,
1618-1620
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine
'Alchymya' from Konrad Gesner, The Practise of Old and New Phisicke, 1599. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
“Alchymya” from Konrad Gesner,
The Practise of Old and New Phisicke, 1599
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine
Illustration of alchemist's workshop from Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrum Sapientiae, 1595.
Illustration of
alchemist's workshop
from Heinrich Khunrath,
Amphitheatrum Sapientiae, 1595
Illustration of Robert Boyle by George Vertue, 1739. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Illustration of Robert Boyle
by George Vertue, 1739
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine
Illustration of Isaac Newton by William Derby and engraved by W.J. Fry, 1829. Courtesy National Library of Medicine
Illustration of Isaac Newton
by William Derby and engraved
by W.J. Fry, 1829
Courtesy National
Library of Medicine

Discussion Questions

  1. What were the main principles of alchemy? Should we understand it as primarily a physical or spiritual enterprise—or did these distinctions vary from practitioner to practitioner?
  2. Why did Robert Boyle practice alchemy? What were his methods?
  3. What was Isaac Newton's interest in alchemy, and what role did this play in other aspects of his thought, such as his theory of universal gravitation?
  4. How does the historical practice of alchemy parallel modern scientific and medical debates about cloning, stem cell research, and the Human Genome Project?

Suggested Student Exercise

  • Research and examine the various “Philosopher's Stones” currently being pursued by modern science. What do these have in common with the quests undertaken by Boyle, Newton, and their fellow alchemists?

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