The ''Tree of Science'' (''Arbre de la ciència'', ''Arbor Scientiae'') is a work by

Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; ; – 1316), sometimes anglicized as ''Raymond Lully'', was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, Christian apologist and former knight from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art ...

that he wrote in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

between 1295 and 1296.

Summary

An encyclopaedic version of Llull's ''Art'' or ''Ars magna'', the ''Tree of Science'' consists of sixteen parts, or trees. The first fourteen trees constitute the hierarchy of reality: elemental, vegetal, sensual, imaginal, human, moral, imperial, apostolic, celestial, angelic, “eviternal” (pertaining to life after death), maternal (pertaining to the Virgin Mary), divine and human (pertaining to Jesus), and divine (pertaining to God) trees. The last two trees, the tree of examples and the tree of questions, show how to take concepts from the first fourteen trees and formulate examples and questions in order to further investigate the properties of reality. Each tree is in turn divided into seven parts: roots, trunk, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruit. In every tree the roots represent the general principles of the Lullian ''Art'' (goodness, greatness, duration, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth, glory, difference, concordance, contrariety, beginning, middle, end, majority, equality and minority) and each successive part of the tree shows how the principles come together to form more specific, complex elements of reality.Bonner, Anthony (2002). "The structure of the ''Arbor scientiae''," in ''Arbor Scientiae: der Baum des Wissens von Ramon Lull. Akten des Internationalen Kongresses aus Anlass des 40-jährigen Jubiläums des Raimundus-Lullus-Instituts der Universität Freiburg i. Br.'' Turnhout: Brepols. pp. 21–34.

References

Citations

1290s books Medieval European encyclopedias Encyclopedias in Spanish {{encyclopaedia-stub