The Invisible Hand of God in Seeds: Jacob Schegk's Theory of Plastic Faculty

What is it about?

In his embryological treatise "De plastica seminis facultate" (Strasburg, 1580), Jacob Schegk (1511-1587), the professor of philosophy and medicine at the University of Tübingen, developed, through a unique interpretation of the Aristotelian embryology, a theory of the "plastic faculty" (facultas plastica), whose origin lies in the Galenic idea of the formative power. The present study analyses the precise nature of Schegk's theory, by setting it in its historical and intellectual context. It will also discuss the hitherto unappreciated Neoplatonic dimension of Schegk's notion of the soul's vehicle. 1. Introduction 2. The Plastic Faculty as the Instrument of God 3. The Nature of the Plastic Faculty 4. Is the Plastic logos corporeal or incorporeal? 5. The Divine Vehicle of the Plastic Faculty 6. The Separability of the Divine Vehicle 7. Is the Plastic logos a part of the Soul? 8. Conclusion

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