How did Ramon Llull use logic and diagrams in his Ars magna?

In his principal work, the Ars magna (1305–08), the Catalan mystic and philosopher Ramon Llull developed a unique system intended to unify all branches of knowledge and support Christian apologetics through rational discourse.1

To achieve this, Llull employed a method of symbolic notation and complex mechanical techniques. Specifically, he used:

• Combinatory Diagrams: Llull utilized diagrams to relate various forms of knowledge—including theology, philosophy, and natural sciences—as analogues of one another and as manifestations of the divine.1
• Logical Derivation: The system was designed to symbolize concepts and derive propositions by forming various combinations of possibilities.2

By reducing knowledge to first principles and using these mechanical, logical methods, Llull sought to prove the dogmas of Christian theology and facilitate missionary disputation. While his original apologetic goals eventually receded, his approach as a universal system of knowledge remained highly influential, later impacting the development of probability theory and the work of thinkers such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.12