Premodern alchemists often presented their own discipline as an unchangeable form of knowledge. Yet despite this impression of immutability that the historical actors wished to convey, the discipline of alchemy underwent profound changes during its long history. Our workshop “Alchemy between Practice and Theory” brings together historians of alchemy who work on distant historical periods and diverse cultural and linguistic contexts in order to explore the discipline of alchemy in its mutability. In particular, the workshop will address some specific problems that have characterized the study of alchemy in its diverse practices and theories.

The workshop is organized by the Research Group “Experience in the Premodern Sciences of Soul and Body” at Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and the Research Training Group “Philosophy, Science and the Sciences” at Humboldt University of Berlin.