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Rudolph Goclenius the Elder ( la, Rudolphus Goclenius; born ''Rudolf Gockel'' or ''Göckel''; 1 March 1547 – 8 June 1628) was a German scholastic philosopher. Gockel is often credited with coining the term "
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
" in 1590, though the term had been used by
Marko Marulić Marko Marulić Splićanin (), in Latin Marcus Marulus Spalatensis (18 August 1450 – 5 January 1524), was a Croatian poet, lawyer, judge, and Renaissance humanist who coined the term "psychology". He is the national poet of Croatia. According ...
at least 66 years earlier. Gockel had extensive backing, and made significant contributions to the field of
ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ex ...
. He extended the development of many ideas from
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
. Several of Gockel's ideas were published and built upon by later philosophers.


Life

He was born in Korbach, Waldeck (now in Waldeck-Frankenberg,
Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
). He attended the universities at the
University of Erfurt The University of Erfurt (german: Universität Erfurt) is a public university located in Erfurt, the capital city of the German state of Thuringia. It was founded in 1379, and closed in 1816. It was re-established in 1994, three years after Ger ...
, the
University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the worl ...
and the
University of Wittenberg Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university ...
, where he finished his studies with a M.A. in 1571. In the following years he directed the
gymnasiums A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational i ...
in his hometown Korbach (1573) and in
Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 20 ...
(
Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in some Western liturgical calendars on 29 September, a ...
1575). In 1581,
Landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), ...
Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Kassel, who was a reputed astronomer, refused his wish to return to Korbach, but allowed him to be appointed professor at the
Philipps University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the worl ...
, where he had the chairs of physics, logic, mathematics and ethics. He served as a counsellor to Wilhelm and his son Moritz. The latter sent him in 1618 to the
Synod of Dort The Synod of Dort (also known as the Synod of Dordt or the Synod of Dordrecht) was an international Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618–1619, by the Dutch Reformed Church, to settle a divisive controversy caused by the rise of Arminianism. The fir ...
. Although he popularized the term "
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
," his major contribution was to the field of
ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ex ...
. As a follower of Aristotle's work, Gockel gave the philosophy a name and continued in Aristotle's way of thinking. The philosophical discipline of
Ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ex ...
is thought to have been developed in the 17th century by Goclenius. Goclenius became the subject of a satirical text by Johann Balthasar Schupp. According to Schupp, Goclenius said in his old age that his ''Analecta'' ichae 1598was the best book of all he has ever written. Jeremias Nicolai, a student at Korbach ''Stadtschule'' from Autumn 1574 onwards, brother of
Philipp Nicolai Philipp Nicolai (10 August 1556 – 26 October 1608) was a German Lutheran pastor, poet, and composer. He is most widely recognized as a hymnodist. Biography Philipp Nicolai was born at Mengeringhausen in Waldeck, Hesse, Germany where his f ...
, reported that Goclenius "immediately" wrote a poem about "fiery air phenomena" (''feurige Lufterscheinungen'') that were seen in the city on November 14, 1574. It was published in Marburg the same year. City historian Wolfgang Medding has conjectured that the phenomena which provided the inspiration for Goclenius' poem might have been an
aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
, an assumption which is supported by historical data. Later, he treated auroras ("chasmata") in a Physics textbook of 1604. Goclenius died of a stroke in
Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
on June 8, 1628. In his funeral speech on June 10, Wolfgang Loriseca called Goclenius a "leader of today's philosophers, Marburgian Plato, European light, Hessian immortal glory".


Family

Goclenius married his first wife, Margarethe, in 1570. Abraham Saur, a jurist in Marburg, recorded in his chronicle for the 10th of April: From this marriage his oldest son, Rudolph Goclenius the Younger, or Rudolf Goclenius, Jr. was born who became a professor in Marburg and a celebrated mathematician. It is after Rudolph Goclenius, Jr., that the lunar crater is named. He also worked on cures against the plague. He became famous for his miraculous cure with the "weapon salve" or Powder of Sympathy. Other descendants were Theodor Christoph Goclenius (1602-1673, Medicine), Eduard Franz Goclenius (1643-1721, Law) and Reinhard Goclenius (1678-1726, Law).


Philosophical attitude

From his dispute with Wilhelm Adolph Scribonius of Marburg on the legality of the
ordeal by water Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience. In medieval Europe, like trial by combat, tri ...
in
witch trial A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...
s, one can deduce that Goclenius was convinced on the existence of
witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have ...
and adhered to the "Hexenhammer". His views reflected those of
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
. His philosophies belonged to a group called “ Semiramists,” which was a group of Aristotelians who believed in advocating dialectic interpretation of Aristotle's learning, but also advocating the exposition of
Ramism Ramism was a collection of theories on rhetoric, logic, and pedagogy based on the teachings of Petrus Ramus, a French academic, philosopher, and Huguenot convert, who was murdered during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in August 1572. Accord ...
. While he was still a rector at Korbach ''Stadtschule'' Goclenius composed a scholarly poem on Ramus' death. In a letter written by Friedrich Beurhusius to Johann Thomas Freigius in September 1575, Goclenius was mentioned as a devotee to Ramus alongside other schoolmen such as Johann Lambach and Bernhard Copius. Goclenius is reported to have said that Aristotle, Scaliger (whose ''Exercitationes'' he called his Bible), Zabarella, Schegk are all that is needed to fill up the bookstand of philosophers.


Works

In his "Philosophical Inquiries", published in 1599, Goclenius provides a synoptic table that subdivides the philosophical doctrines, or liberal arts, into special domains of knowledge. It is useful for the classification of his works to a certain point. He used the term ''
ontology In metaphysics, ontology is the philosophical study of being, as well as related concepts such as existence, becoming, and reality. Ontology addresses questions like how entities are grouped into categories and which of these entities ex ...
'' in his ''Lexicon philosophicum'' (1613) which was coined by
Jacob Lorhard Jacob Lorhard ( la, Jacobus Lorhardus; 1561 – 19 May 1609) was a German philosopher and pedagogue based in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Biography Lorhard was born in Münsingen, in the Duchy of Württemberg. He studied at the University of ...
in his ''Ogdoas Scholastica'' (1606).


Psychology

Goclenius’ major contributions also included publications which led to the term
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
. In two academic disputations presided by Goclenius at Marburg University in 1586 the word "psychology" appears as an adjective ("psychologicae"). His
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically cate ...
''Psychologia: hoc est, de hominis perfectione, animo, et in primis ortu hujus'' published in 1590 is the first book to contain the word "psychology" in the title. The ''Psychologia'' of 1590 (a second printing was issued in 1594) contains mostly excerpts from treatises written between 1579 and 1589. The book's full title translates to English as, "Psychology: that is, on the perfection of man, his mind, and especially its origin, the comments and discussions of certain theologians & philosophers of our time who are shown on the turned page." Here, the term psychology refers to both a subject of inquiry ("the perfection of man, his mind, and especially its origin") and the inquiry itself ("the comments and discussions of certain theologians & philosophers of our time"). In the 17th century, Goclenius' ''Psychologia'' was read and quoted by scholars like
Robert Burton Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome ''The Anatomy of Melancholy''. Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Burto ...
, Daniel Sennert and
Jakob Thomasius Jakob Thomasius ( la, Jacobus Thomasius; 27 August 1622 – 9 September 1684) was a German academic philosopher and jurist. He is now regarded as an important founding figure in the scholarly study of the history of philosophy. His views were ec ...
. Goclenius himself returned to his ''Psychologia ''in a textbook on natural science of 1604 and in some philosophical disputations.


Logic

Goclenius' crowning achievement is his original contribution made to
term logic In philosophy, term logic, also known as traditional logic, syllogistic logic or Aristotelian logic, is a loose name for an approach to formal logic that began with Aristotle and was developed further in ancient history mostly by his followers, t ...
, called the Goclenian Sorites. In the words of the British logician Carveth Read:
"It is the shining merit of Goclenius to have restored the Premises of the Sorites to the usual order of Fig. I.: whereby he has raised to himself a monument more durable than brass, and secured indeed the very cheapest immortality. How expensive, compared with this, was the method of the Ephesian incendiary!"
An example for the use of sorites in an argumentative context is presented by Goclenius in his "Dissertatio De Ortu Animi" which concludes the first edition of the ''Psychologia''. Contrary to Carveth Read's assessment, however, Dr. Rudolph Goclenius did not invent the Goclenian Sorites: St. Thomas Aquinas did:
" second demonstration takes as its starting point the conclusion of a first demonstration, whose terms are understood to contain the middle term which was the starting point of the first demonstration. Thus the second demonstration will proceed from four terms the first from three only, the third from five, and the fourth from six; so that each demonstration adds one term. Thus it is clear that first demonstrations are included in subsequent ones, as when this first demonstration—every B is A, every C is B, therefore every C is A—is included in this demonstration—every C is A, every D is C, therefore every D is A; and this again is included in the demonstration whose conclusion is that every E is A, so that for this final conclusion there seems to be one syllogism composed of several syllogisms having several middle terms. This may be expressed thus: every B is A, every C is B, every D is C, every E is D, therefore every E is A."


Publications

Bibliographies of Goclenius' writings were prepared by F. W. Strieder and by F. J. Schmidt (see below). His list of publications include a large number of academic
disputation In the scholastic system of education of the Middle Ages, disputations (in Latin: ''disputationes'', singular: ''disputatio'') offered a formalized method of debate designed to uncover and establish truths in theology and in sciences. Fixed ru ...
s. This is due to the statutes of Landgrave Philip I of January 14, 1564 which required professors at the University of Marburg to carry out weekly examinations. Goclenius lectured three hours a day: one pro lectione publica, one pro magistrandis and one pro baccalaureandis.Letter by Landgrave Ludwig to his brother Wilhelm, October 4, 1581. In: H. Heppe (Hrsg.), ''Geschichte der hessischen Generalsynoden von 1568-1582''. Zweiter Band, Kassel 1847, p. 221 * ''Problemata logica'', pars I 1589, pars II 1590; Pars I-V 1594 (reprint: Frankfurt: Minerva, 1967, in 5 voll.) * ''Psychologia: hoc est, de hominis perfectione, animo, et in primis ortu hujus, commentationes ac disputationes quorundam theologorum & philosophorum nostrae aetatis'', Marburg 1590; Marburg 1594; Marburg 1597 (revised edition). * ''Oratio de natura sagarum in purgatione & examinatione per Frigidam aquis innatantium'', Marburg 1584 (an oration held at a graduation ceremony on November 19, 1583; republished in ''Panegyrici Academiae Marpurgensis'', Marburg 1590, pp. 190–203) * ''Partitio dialectica'', Frankfurt 1595 * ''Isagoge in peripateticorum et scholasticorum primam philosopiam, quae dici consuevit metaphysica'', 1598 (reprint: Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1976) * ''Institutionum logicarum de inventione liber unus'', Marburg 1598 * Oberursel 1600 * ''Appendix IIII. Dialogistica'', Marburg 1602 * ''Physicae completae speculum'', Frankfurt 1604 * ''Dilucidationes canonum philosophicorum'', Lich 1604 * ''Controversia logicae et philosophiae, ad praxin logicam directae, quibus praemissa sunt theoremata seu praecepta logica'', Marburg 1604 * ''Miscellaneorum Theologicorum Et Philosophicorum'', Marburg 1607; Marburg 1608 * ''Conciliator philosophicus'', 1609 (reprint: Hildesheim, Georg Olms, 1980) * ''Lexicon philosophicum quo tanquam clave philosophiae fores aperiuntur'', 1613 (reprint: Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1980) * ''Lexicon philosophicum Graecum'', Marburg 1615 (reprint: Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1980)


References


Further reading

* Simone De Angelis, Zwischen generatio and creatio. Zum Problem der Genese der Seele um 1600 - Rudolph Goclenius, Julius Caesar Scaliger, Fortunio Liceti. In Lutz Dannenberg (Hrsg.), ''Zwischen christlicher Apologetik und methodologischem Atheismus : Wissenschaftsprozesse im Zeitraum von 1500 bis 1800'', Berlin 2002, pp. 94–144 * Diana Kremer, "Von erkundigung und Prob der Zauberinnen durchs kalte Wasser". Wilhelm Adolph Scribonius aus Marburg und Rudolf Goclenius aus Korbach zur Rechtmäßigkeit der "Wasserprobe" im Rahmen der Hexenverfolgung, in: ''Geschichtsblätter für Waldeck'', Bd. 84, 1996, pp. 141–168. * Marco Lamanna, ''La nascita dell'ontologia nella metafisica di Rudolph Göckel (1547-1628)'', Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2013. * Paul Mengal, ''La naissance de la psychologie'', Paris 2005 * Leonid I. Ragozin, Ψυχολογία and Psychology: Goclenius, Ramus, and Vultejus. In ''Voprosy filosofii'', 2018, No. 2, pp. 102–111 * Martin Roebel, ''Humanistische Medizin und Kryptocalvinismus : Leben und medizinisches Werk des Wittenberger Medizinprofessors Caspar Peucer (1525 – 1602)'', Freiburg 2012 * Franz Joseph Schmidt, ''Materialien zur Bibliographie von Rudolph Goclenius sen. (1547-1628) und Rudolph Goclenius jun. (1572-1621)'', Hamm 1979 * Rudolf Schmitz, ''Die Naturwissenschaften an der Philipps-Universität Marburg 1517-1927'', Marburg 1978, p. 15ff. * Hermann Schüling, ''Bibliographie der psychologischen Literatur des 16. Jahrhunderts'', Hildesheim 1967 * Gideon Stiening, Psychologie. In Barbara Bauer (Hrsg.), ''Melanchthon und die Marburger Professoren (1527-1627)'', Marburg 1999, pp. 315–344 * Friedrich Wilhelm Strieder, ''Grundlage zu einer hessischen Gelehrten und Schriftsteller Geschichte. Seit der Reformation bis auf gegenwärtige Zeiten'', Bd. 4, Göttingen 1784, pp. 428–487; Bd. 9, Cassel 1794, p. 381; Bd. 13, Cassel 1802, pp. 341–343. * Fernando Vidal, ''The Sciences of the Soul : The Early Modern Origins of Psychology'', Chicago 2011


External links


Notes on the development of Ontology from Suarez to Kant


Russian translations by Leonid I. Ragozin (with English abstracts):
Goclenius R. (Ed.) (2018). Ψυχολογια: that is, on human perfection, on the spirit, and first and foremost on its origin ...
''Metodologiâ i istoriâ psihologii''. Iss. 2. P. 143–149.
Vultejus H. (2018). The diatribe on the man’s philosophical perfection.
''Metodologiâ i istoriâ psihologii''. Iss. 4. P. 111–140. {{DEFAULTSORT:Goclenius, Rudolph 1547 births 1628 deaths People from Korbach German philosophers German lexicographers Participants in the Synod of Dort People from Waldeck (state) 16th-century German writers 16th-century German male writers 17th-century German writers 16th-century philosophers 17th-century philosophers German male non-fiction writers 17th-century German male writers