拉蒙Ramon Llull

拉蒙在马略卡岛的王室宫廷中长大。在那里，他从摩尔人那里学会了阿拉伯语。大约1265年，在经历了十字架上基督的神秘幻象之后，拉蒙离开了马略卡岛。随后他在北非和小亚细亚从事传教工作，在那里传授亚西西的圣方济各的和平主义教义。

拉蒙的主要著作是Ars magna（1305-08），由若干论著组成，包括The Tree of Knowledge和Book of the Ascent and Descent of the Intellect。这部作品受到[1]中叙述的另一次神秘经历的启发：-

大约1272年，在马略卡岛的兰达山上又一次神秘体验中，拉蒙叙述自己看到整个宇宙反映着神的属性，于是他构想将一切知识归结为第一原理，并确定它们汇聚的统一之点。

拉蒙运用逻辑和涉及符号记法与组合图解的机械方法，将一切形式的知识联系起来。这项工作使他成为组合学的先驱，这一方面在[3]中有充分讨论。

拉蒙究竟如何去世尚不清楚。在[1]中记载道：-

……据传说，拉蒙在北非的贝贾亚（布吉）或突尼斯被石头砸死，并在到达马略卡岛之前死于海上，成为殉道者，他被安葬在那里。

拉蒙将基督教归结为理性讨论，试图通过逻辑论证来证明教会教条，这在他死后并未得到认可。1376年，教皇格列高利十一世指控拉蒙混淆信仰与理性，并谴责他的教义。然而，罗马天主教会赦免拉蒙比伽利略更快，因为他在19世纪受到尊崇。

拉蒙的著作之所以重要，有若干原因，其中之一无疑是它对哥特弗里德·威廉·莱布尼茨产生了巨大影响。拉蒙早期关于骑士精神的一部著作被译成英文，早期印刷商威廉·卡克斯顿认为它足够重要，于是编辑并印刷了这部著作。拉蒙的神秘著作，如The Book of the Lover and the Beloved，至今仍受欢迎，他的著作在乌惹内·查尔斯·卡塔兰文化中具有重要地位。

Ramon Llull was brought up at the royal court of Majorca. There he learnt Arabic from the Moorish population. Llull left Majorca in about 1265 after he experienced mystical visions of Christ on the Cross. He then undertook missionary work in North Africa and Asia Minor where he taught the pacifist doctrines on St Francis of Assisi.

Llull's main work is the Ars magna (1305-08), comprising of a number of treatises including The Tree of Knowledge and The Book of the Ascent and Descent of the Intellect. This work was inspired by another mystical experience related in [1]:-

About 1272, after another mystical experience on Majorca's Mount Randa in which Llull related seeing the whole universe reflecting the divine attributes, he conceived of reducing all knowledge to first principles and determining their convergent point of unity.

Llull used logic and mechanical methods involving symbolic notation and combinatorial diagrams to relate all forms of knowledge. This work makes him a precursor of combinatorics and this aspect is fully discussed in [3].

It is unclear exactly how Llull died. In [1] it is related that:-

... according to legend, Llull was stoned in North Africa at Bejaia (Bougie) or Tunis and died a martyr at sea before reaching Majorca, where he was buried.

Llull's reduction of Christianity to rational discussion, in which he attempted to prove the dogmas of the Church by logical argument, did not find favour after his death. In 1376 Pope Gregory XI charged Llull with confusing faith with reason and condemned his teachings. The Roman Catholic Church did however pardon Llull more quickly than Galileo, since he was venerated in the 19th century.

Llull's work is important for a number of reasons, one certainly being the great influence it had on Leibniz. One of Llull's early works on chivalry was translated into English and thought important enough by the early printer William Caxton that he edited and printed the work. Llull's mystical writings such as The Book of the Lover and the Beloved are still popular and his work has an important role in Catalan culture.