ALCHEMY IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD – MAGNUM IGNOTUM

Abstract

Alchemy in modern consciousness ceased to be perceived as a scientific fallacy which led to a mass of fruitless attempts to obtain the philosopher's stone, that is, some substance through which one can turn lead into gold. In modern artistic, philosophical and psychological works alchemy is present as a phenomenon the essence of which is mysterious and incomprehensible, or is lost. Alchemy and the philosopher's stone today in society are perceived as Magnum ign?tum (the Great Unknown). This perception is due, among other things, to the diversity of approaches to studying alchemy and its phenomena. The purpose of the article is to present the diversity of historically developed approaches to studying alchemy. The article attempts to apply the method of phenomenology of religion to alchemy. Phenomenology emphasizes, first of all, a structural relationship, rather than a historical one. The phenomenological method of investigation finds concretization in the geometric representation of the structure of alchemy, which correlates with the structure of the investigation of this phenomenon. The article shows that the diversity of approaches reflects the special topology of the phenomenon of alchemy, which makes it possible to obtain its various geometric sections and consider them separately, yet none of them embraces the phenomenon of alchemy as a whole. The materials of the article can be useful for a historical understanding of the motives for the development of science.