Ramon Llull

Ramon Llull (1232 – June 29, 1315) (sometimes Raymond Lully, Raymond Lull,  in Latin Raimundus or Raymundus Lullus, or in Spanish Raimundo Lulio) was a Majorcan writer and philosopher born into a wealthy family in Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands, then part of the Crown of Aragon, now part of Spain. He wrote the first major work of Catalan language literature. Recently surfaced manuscripts show him to have anticipated by several centuries prominent work on elections theory. He is sometimes considered a pioneer of computation theory, especially given his influence on Gottfried Leibniz.

Early life
Llull was well educated, and became the tutor of James II of Aragon. He was conversant in Latin, Catalan, Occitan and Arabic.

By 1257 he had married Blanca Picany and they had two children, Domingo and Magdalena; yet despite his family he lived as before, a troubadour's life. About this time he became the seneschal (the administrative head of the royal household) to the future King James II of Majorca.

A key event in his early life was his religious conversion. In the Vita coaetanea, an "autobiography" of Ramon Llull which he dictated circa 1311, there is a description of his conversion. "Ramon, while still a young man and seneschal to the king of Majorca, was very given to composing worthless songs and poems and to doing other licentious things. One night he was sitting beside his bed, about to compose and write in his vulgar tongue a song to a lady whom he loved with a foolish love; and as he began to write this song, he looked to his right and saw our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, as if suspended in midair." The vision came to him five times in all.

Very much to the contrary, Schopenhauer, the pessimistic philosopher, in 1819 gave another description of Llull's religious conversion. "Hence men who have led a very adventurous life under the pressure of passions, men such as kings, heroes, or adventurers, have often been seen suddenly to change, resort to resignation and penance, and become hermits and monks. To this class belong all genuine accounts of conversion, for instance, that of Raymond Lull, who had long wooed a beautiful woman, was at last admitted to her chamber, and was looking forward to the fulfillment of all his desires, when, opening her dress, she showed him her bosom terribly eaten away with cancer. From that moment, as if he had looked into hell, he was converted; leaving the court of the King of Majorca, he went into the wilderness to do penance." He became a hermit for the next nine years.

In 1265 he had a religious epiphany, and became a tertiary Franciscan. His first major work Art Abreujada d'Atrobar Veritat (The Abbreviated Art of Finding Truth) was written in Catalan and then translated into Latin. He wrote treatises on alchemy and botany, Ars Magna, and Llibre de meravelles. He wrote the romantic novel Blanquerna, the first major work of literature written in Catalan, and perhaps the first European novel. Llull pressed for the study of Arabic and other then-insufficiently studied languages in Spain for the purpose of converting Muslims to Christianity.

Ars generalis ultima (Ars Magna)
Around 1275, Llull designed a method, which he first published in full in his Ars generalis ultima or Ars magna (the "The Ultimate General Art", published in 1305), of combining religious and philosophical attributes selected from a number of lists. It is believed that Llull's inspiration for the Ars magna came from observing Arab astrologers use a device called a zairja.

It was intended as a debating tool for winning Muslims to the Christian faith through logic and reason. Through his detailed analytical efforts, Llull built an in-depth theological reference by which a reader could enter in an argument or question about the Christian faith. The reader would then turn to the appropriate index and page to find the correct answer.

Llull also invented numerous 'machines' for the purpose. One method is now called the Lullian Circle, each of which consisted of two or more paper discs inscribed with alphabetical letters or symbols that referred to lists of attributes. The discs could be rotated individually to generate a large number of combinations of ideas. A number of terms, or symbols relating to those terms, were laid around the full circumference of the circle. They were then repeated on an inner circle which could be rotated. These combinations were said to show all possible truth about the subject of the circle. Llull based this on the notion that there were a limited number of basic, undeniable truths in all fields of knowledge, and that we could understand everything about these fields of knowledge by studying combinations of these elemental truths.

The method was an early attempt to use logical means to produce knowledge. Llull hoped to show that Christian doctrines could be obtained artificially from a fixed set of preliminary ideas. For example, one of the tables listed the attributes of God: goodness, greatness, eternity, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth and glory. Llull knew that all believers in the monotheistic religions - whether Jews, Muslims or Christians - would agree with these attributes, giving him a firm platform from which to argue.

The idea was developed further by Giordano Bruno in the 16th century, and by Gottfried Leibniz in the 17th century for investigations into the philosophy of science. Leibniz gave Llull's idea the name ars combinatoria, by which it is now often known. Some computer scientists have adopted Llull as a sort of founding father, claiming that his system of logic was the beginning of information science.

There is an episode in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (II:III:V; 1721), where the hero is shown a mechanical engine that generates knowledge by combining words at random. Swift does not mention Llull by name, but that passage can only be a parody of his method.

Llull was vocally opposed by the Grand Inquisitor of Aragon, Nicolau Aymerich. As a result, Pope Gregory XI banned some of his writings.

First mission
Llull traveled through Europe to interest popes, kings and princes in establishing special colleges to prepare future missionaries to convert the infidels of Tunis to Christianity. In 1285, he embarked on his first mission to North Africa but was violently expelled from Tunis. On his return, Llull began to preach for a unification of the three monotheistic faiths--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--which together, he hoped, would be able to defeat the Asian invaders then threatening Europe and the Middle East.

In spite of what is generally believed, Llull, although influenced by the doctrine of St. Francis Assisi--but also by the religious style of the Dominicans--never entered the Franciscan Order to become a priest. Instead, Llull became a Secular Franciscan and remained a lay person during all his life.

In 1297 Llull met Duns Scotus, after which he was given the nickname Doctor Illuminatus.

Second mission
Llull travelled to Tunis a second time in about 1304, and wrote numerous letters to the king of Tunis, but little else is known about this part of his life.

Third mission, Council, and death
In the early 14th century, Llull visited North Africa on a reconnaissance mission for a crusade being planned by the Pope. He returned in 1308, reporting that the conquest should be achieved through prayer, not through military force. Llull finally achieved his goal of linguistic education at major universities in 1311 when the Council of Vienne ordered the creation of chairs of Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldean at the universities of Bologna, Oxford, Paris, Salamanca, and at the Papal Court. At the age of 82, in 1314, Raymond traveled again to North Africa and an angry crowd of Muslims stoned him in the city of Bougie or Béjaïa in present-day northern Algeria. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca where he died at home in Palma the next year.

Reputation after death
Posthumously, Llull became celebrated as a great alchemist, although he had been opposed to occult beliefs. At one time he was credited with discovering ether, in about 1275, although there is no contemporary evidence for this.

Chairs for the propagation of the theories of Llull were set up at the University of Barcelona and the University of Valencia. His rationalistic mysticism was formally condemned by Pope Gregory XI in 1376 and the condemnation was renewed by Pope Paul IV.

Nonetheless, the Roman Catholic Church has given Llull the status of a Blessed (Bl. Ramon Lull), in that his cult was confirmed in 1858 by Pope Pius IX, although he has not been canonized. He has also been called 'Doctor Illuminatus', but is not one of the 33 Doctors of the Church.

He is regarded as one of the most influential authors in Catalan; the language is sometimes referred to as la llengua de Llull, as other languages might be referred to as la langue de Molière (French) or la lengua de Cervantes (Castilian).

The logo of the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas ("Higher Council of Scientific Research") is Llull's Tree of Science. Ramon Llull University, a private university established in Barcelona in 1990, is named for the philosopher.

Mysticism
Ramon Llull also had a strong mystical side, instantiated in his work The Book of the Lover and His Beloved, written in order to illuminate weary, sterile souls. He was also interested in, and wrote about, astrology.

Mathematics and statistics
With the 2001 discovery of his lost manuscripts Ars notandi, Ars eleccionis, and Alia ars eleccionis, Llull is given credit for discovering the Borda count and Condorcet criterion, which Jean-Charles de Borda and Marquis de Condorcet independently discovered centuries later. The terms Llull winner and Llull loser are ideas in contemporary voting systems studies that are named in honor of Llull. Also, Llull is recognized as pioneer of computation theory, especially due to his great influence on Gottfried Leibniz.

Other recent coverage
Martin Gardner has written extensively about Llull. His analyses can be found in Logic Machines and Diagrams and Science - Good, Bad and Bogus.

Llull, now going under the name 'Cole Hawlings' and revealed to be immortal is a major character in The Box of Delights, the celebrated Children's novel by poet John Masefield. In the BBC TV adaptation of 1984 he was played by Patrick Troughton.

In the DC comic book series The Sandman, one of the characters, a writer named Richard Madoc, puts forth the idea of writing a story about Paracelsus and Raymond Lulli being the same person. This is, in real life, highly unlikely, given that they lived a century or more apart.

In Marvel Comics' anthology title Marvel Comics Presents #143 (December 1993), Llull's Ars Magna, animated by magic, became a foe of the Scarlet Witch.

Works
Llull is known to have written at least 265 works, including:
 * The Book of the Lover and the Beloved
 * Blanquerna (a novel; 1283)
 * Desconort (on the superiority of reason)
 * Tree of Science (1295)
 * Tractatus novus de astronomia
 * Ars Magna (The Great Art) (1305) or Ars Generalis Ultima (The Ultimate General Art)
 * Ars Brevis (The Short Art; an abbreviated version of the Ars Magna)
 * Llibre de meravelles
 * Practica compendiosa
 * Liber de Lumine (The Book of Light)
 * Ars Infusa (The Inspired Art)
 * Book of Propositions
 * Liber Chaos (The Book of Chaos)
 * Book of the Seven Planets
 * Liber Proverbiorum (Book of Proverbs)
 * Book on the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
 * Ars electionis (on voting)
 * Artifitium electionis personarum (on voting)
 * Ars notatoria
 * Introductoria Artis demonstrativae
 * Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men
 * Libre qui es de l'ordre de cavalleria (The Book of the Order of Chivalry written between 1279-1283)

About another 400 works are doubtfully or spuriously attributed to him.