Early Modern Philosophical and Scientifical Manuscripts in the Collections of the Musems in Bohemia : An Overview of the State of Art
Abstract
The paper presents current results of the research of the 17th and 18th century manuscripts preserved in the museum collections in Bohemia, which is realized at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, and in which the author takes part (the inventory of these manuscripts is since 2003 being published as the Inventory of the 17th and 18th Century Manuscripts from the Museum Collections in Bohemia), and concentrates specifically on those results, which are relevant for the history of philosophy and science, or the intellectual history as such. The paper presents a list of identified manuscripts dealing with philosophy or science (including those disciplines, which are today considered occult - alchemy, magic etc.) and their typology according to age, origin, language, theme etc.
In addition, it treats selected interesting texts in greater detail. The goal of the paper is to draw attention to these so far unknown sources of the research of the intellectual life in Early Modern Bohemia and to formulate preliminary hypotheses about local the reception (and possibly also development) of European philosophical thought and scientific theories.