Siris and the Renaissance: some overlooked Berkeleian sources

Abstract

This is a translation of a paper by an Italian scholar Silvia Parigi which deals with the historical sources of Berkeley’s theory underlying his campaign for the propagation of the medical use of tar-water. During the Renaissance, various cosmological and physiological conceptions of spirit derived, respectively, from the works of ancient philosophers and practical physicians, coalesce in a specific system of ideas. The latter, after being further enriched through borrowings from the Renaissance alchemists, astrologists and hermetic magicians, still remains highly influential in Berkeley’s time. The Irish philosopher, who was fully aware of the advances of contemporary chemical science, faced the necessity to find an easy and an effective solution to the sanitary needs of the population of his diocese. By way of experiment he found the best balanced recipe for the remedy of his choice and developed an original eclectic philosophical and scientific theory to explain its effect.