Theophrastus Paracelsus von Hohenheim: His Corpuscular Theory and the Spread of Paracelsianism
The purpose of this article is to analyze Paracelsus’s corpuscular theory in order to be explained how his theory redefined the terms of minima naturalia and semina rerum adding new terms, such as archeus. Initially the study refers to important information about his life and to historical theories of analysis of Paracelsus’s corpuscularianism. Next, the paper undertakes a detailed analysis of his matter theory focusing on the terms of minima naturalia, semina rerum and tria prima. Finally, the research explains how Paracelsus’s matter theory was adopted by his followers and constituted a controversial subject between the scholars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, providing a different view of how his matter theory constituted a force key in the development of the Scientific Revolution.