08-04-2021, 11:27 PM
09-04-2021, 01:52 AM
I think it is important because it gives us another glimpse at the past. I think is it also important that someone has been able to make things so ambiguous as to have many people convinced of various and diverse interpretations thereof centuries later, with no resolution in sight. I myself think it is a mnemonic encyclopedia of sorts and as such i think the information is useful also. It has taught me a lot, whether or not the makers meant it to.
09-04-2021, 06:15 AM
(08-04-2021, 08:40 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Which factors would make a manuscript generally important in your opinion, Rene?
Clearly, important or not is not a black/white question. There is a whole range from trivial to historically of the greatest importance.
Also, the most trivial record written down by someone several hundred years ago, may contain something very relevant for someone, somewhere. This is why there is a great effort to preserve these records.
For me, the most important documents are those that really tell us something about human history, science, or art. For me, I would put them in this order. Others may have different priorities.
Some of the most valuable historical documents may not be the most important ones, but they are valuable because of their beauty.
The Voynich MS probably hangs somewhere in the middle. It may contain information of some historical relevance. However, it is very far from alone.
As Thorndike once said: the world's libraries are full of perfectly legible documents that have not been properly studied yet. (Well, something along those lines).
09-04-2021, 05:04 PM
The answer to this question depends on whether you consider the VM genuine and if you have any idea what it means. Since I believe it is authentic and I have some idea of what it is, for me it is a book of great importance, a bibliographic treasure increased by the fact that no similar work has survived.
In the Voynich, a medieval science book, we see one of the most peculiar features of this science: the union of the macrocosm and the microcosm. We see that strange mix for us of logic and natural magic. It is the stars that govern the things of this world, hence that fusion of astrology and medicine that we see so well represented in the images of the zodiac man.
There is no zodiac man in the VM but we do see the power of the stars to create rare, strange and never seen plants, possessing mysterious healing powers.
Modern science, which begins in the seventeenth century, swept all this away. Medieval science became somewhat suspicious and dark. A book like Voynich helps us to recover that state of human knowledge, of European culture.
In the Voynich, a medieval science book, we see one of the most peculiar features of this science: the union of the macrocosm and the microcosm. We see that strange mix for us of logic and natural magic. It is the stars that govern the things of this world, hence that fusion of astrology and medicine that we see so well represented in the images of the zodiac man.
There is no zodiac man in the VM but we do see the power of the stars to create rare, strange and never seen plants, possessing mysterious healing powers.
Modern science, which begins in the seventeenth century, swept all this away. Medieval science became somewhat suspicious and dark. A book like Voynich helps us to recover that state of human knowledge, of European culture.
10-04-2021, 04:33 PM
I was thinking. If the Voynich is not important then which medieval manuscripts are important and why. That is assuming, of course, that any medieval manuscripts are important, which some might feel they are not.
10-04-2021, 05:36 PM
Yeah, the problem is with the word "important", it is extremely relative. It all depends on one's frame of reference. For a small town, an otherwise unremarkable manuscript might be their most important one. But in the light of world history, one might say that even the Tres Riches Heures aren't very important, and the Magna Charta a footnote relevant to a limited time and place.
So in my opinion this question can only be answered with "yes and no".
A much better question would be what is or could be the relevance of the VM. But even this would hinge on hypothetics and depend on one's views of the MS.
So in my opinion this question can only be answered with "yes and no".
A much better question would be what is or could be the relevance of the VM. But even this would hinge on hypothetics and depend on one's views of the MS.
10-04-2021, 06:21 PM
(08-04-2021, 06:31 PM)Pardis Motiee Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I want to know the general views on why the manuscript is important and why solving it matters.
I will try to rephrase this question:
"I want to know the general views on what are the most historically important things about the manuscript and what a decipherment of the manuscript might yield."
11-04-2021, 12:29 AM
Books are important.
But whether the VM manuscript is important is another question.
No. I think not. It is interesting, but not important.
What we have learned from research is that many things are also contained in other books.
The knowledge is well dispersed. Therefore interesting, but not important.
But whether the VM manuscript is important is another question.
No. I think not. It is interesting, but not important.
What we have learned from research is that many things are also contained in other books.
The knowledge is well dispersed. Therefore interesting, but not important.
11-04-2021, 09:16 AM
The most interesting aspect of the Voynich MS, in my opinion, is: "why?".
If a book is important because it tells us something new, then this might be it.
Answering this might require more than "just" recovering its text.
If a book is important because it tells us something new, then this might be it.
Answering this might require more than "just" recovering its text.
11-04-2021, 10:20 AM
Yes, I also think that the important thing about the VM is why?
This book reveals how little we know about medieval culture. That's why it's so important, because it encourages us to know, to continue investigating.
In an age when herbs were already drawn realistically, why would someone draw about 120 plants that we have not been able to identify in over a hundred years of research? The obvious conclusion is that they are made up. Why?
Here everyone will have their own theory. Mine, which is consistent with medieval science and the other half of the book, is that it is the stars that create plants, and all these strange herbs must be in remote places on Earth.
The authors of the VM have imagined the plants but don't know anything about them. That is why it is useless to search for an explanatory text that does not exist. The chains of glyphs that we see written may not be more than astronomical symbols, references to the stars.
This book reveals how little we know about medieval culture. That's why it's so important, because it encourages us to know, to continue investigating.
In an age when herbs were already drawn realistically, why would someone draw about 120 plants that we have not been able to identify in over a hundred years of research? The obvious conclusion is that they are made up. Why?
Here everyone will have their own theory. Mine, which is consistent with medieval science and the other half of the book, is that it is the stars that create plants, and all these strange herbs must be in remote places on Earth.
The authors of the VM have imagined the plants but don't know anything about them. That is why it is useless to search for an explanatory text that does not exist. The chains of glyphs that we see written may not be more than astronomical symbols, references to the stars.