Single Idea 9291

[catalogued under 1. Philosophy / B. History of Ideas / 4. Early European Thought]

Full Idea

The dating by Isaac Casaubon in 1614 of the Hermetic writings as not the work of a very ancient Egyptian priest but written in post-Christian times, is a watershed separating the Renaissance world from the modern world.

Gist of Idea

The dating, in 1614, of the Hermetic writings as post-Christian is the end of the Renaissance

Source

Frances A. Yates (Giordano Bruno and Hermetic Tradition [1964], Ch.21)

Book Reference

Yates,Frances A.: 'Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition' [Chicago 1991], p.398


A Reaction

I tend to place the end of the Renaissance with the arrival of the telescope in 1610, so the two dates coincide. Simply, magic was replaced by science. Religion ran alongside, gasping for breath. Mathematics was freed from numerology.