Tree of Science (Ramon Llull)

Tree of Science (Arbre de la ciència, Arbor Scientiae) is one of the most extensive and characteristic works of Ramon Llull, written in Rome between 1295 and 1296. It is a version in encyclopaedia format of General Art or Ars magna aimed to non-university public. It has recourse to an analogy common in it: the organic comparison, in which each science is represented by a tree with roots, trunk, branches, leaves and fruits. The roots represent the basic principles of each science; the trunk is the structure; the branches, the genres; the leaves, the species; and the fruits, the individual, his/her acts and his/her finalities. This vegetal allegory shows the influence of Aristotle.

Arbor-scientiae Druck von 1505 in Tomkowiak: Populäre Enzyklopädien

Image from a 1505 edition of Arbre de ciència . Printed in Barcelona.