THE TRADITION OF ALCHEMICAL AND ASTROLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE WITHIN AND AROUND THEOPHAN PROKOPOVYCH’S LIBRARY

Abstract

The important role of the alchemical and astrological tradition in the formation and transformation of science as a social institution in the Early Modern period is researched in detail in Western historiography of science. At the same time, the Ukrainian aspect of this pan-European phenomenon needs further intensive study. The article deals with the alchemical and astrological component of Ukrainian science of the High Baroque era on an example of Theophan Prokopovych (1677 – 1736). The analysis of the catalog of Prokopovych’s library confirmed that the alchemical-astrological and magical-physical knowledge belonged to the sphere of interests of the scholar. His activity, in addition to cosmogonic reasoning and mathematical calculations, also had a practical component. Books from the library’s holdings included works of late alchemy, which allowed Prokopovych to be aware of the latest ideas, trends, and achievements in this and related fields of knowledge. This is reflected in the formation of the worldview and creative work of the scholar. A comparison of the facts of biographies, the essence and direction of creativity, and the relationship of the authors mentioned in Prokopovych’s treatise “Natural Philosophy or Physics”, testified to the existence of the united pan-European scientific and information space, within which the tradition of late alchemy was formed and transformed during the 16th-18th centuries. Theophan Prokopovych also belonged to this tradition, and his works reflected the state and essence of Ukrainian alchemical knowledge of the High Baroque era. Prokopovych’s own views on problems of alchemy and astrology are a topic of special research.