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What subjects did Ramon Llull explore in the Ars magna?
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Catalan literature
Ausias March, detail of a lithograph
In his principal work, the Ars magna, the Catalan mystic Ramon Llull sought to unify all branches of human knowledge into a single, coherent system based on first principles.1
Rather than focusing on a single discipline, Llull used his "art of finding truth" to explore and interrelate a vast array of subjects, including:
- Theology: He aimed to place Christian apologetics on a foundation of rational discussion, specifically to aid in missionary work and disputation with Muslims.1
- Philosophy: He treated philosophical concepts as analogues to theological truths, viewing all knowledge as manifestations of the godhead within the universe.1
- Natural Sciences: These were integrated into his universal system, where he used symbolic notation and combinatory diagrams to demonstrate how different fields of study converge.1
By reducing knowledge to these fundamental principles, Llull intended to show that all intellectual inquiry could be harmonized as reflections of divine attributes.1