fire philosophers
English edit
Noun edit
- plural of fire philosopher
- 1797, “Fire-Philosophers”, in Colin Macfarquhar, editor, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 3rd edition, volume 7, Edinburgh: A. Bell and C. Macfarquhar, →OCLC, page 253:
- Fire-Philosophers, or Philosophi per ignem, […] The distinguishing tenet from which they derived this appellation was, that the intimate essences of natural things were only to be known by the trying efforts of fire, directed in a chemical process. They were also called Theosophists, from their declaring against human reason as a dangerous and deceitful guide, and representing a divine and supernatural illumination as the only means of arriving at truth.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:fire philosopher.