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Rudolph Goclenius

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Rudolph Goclenius
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Rudolph Goclenius

Rudolph Göckel or Rudolf Goclenius [the Older] (1 March 1547 - 8 June 1628) was a German scholastic philosopher, credited with the inventions of the terms psychology (1590), and ontology (1613). He was born in Corbach, Waldeck (now Korbach,Waldeck-Frankenberg in Hesse), and died in Marburg.

He attended the universities in Erfurt, Marburg and Wittenberg, where he finished his studies with a M.A. in 1571. In the following years he directed the gymnasiums in his hometown Korbach and in Kassel. In 1581, Landgraf Wilhelm IV of Hessen-Kassel, who was a reputed astronomer, refused his wish to return to Korbach, but allowed him to be appointed professor at the Philipps University of Marburg, where he had the chairs of philosophy, logic, metaphysics and ethics. He served as a counsellor to Wilhelm and his son Moritz. The latter sent him 1618 to the Synod of Dordrecht.

He was highly literate and wrote articles on many subjects, not only philosophy but also mathematics, geography, astrology/astronomy, botanic, zoology, medicine. But he was essentially a lexicographer, with few own ideas which might have advanced science.

His oldest son Rudolf Goclenius, Jr. was professor in Marburg.

From his dispute with Wilhelm Adolph Scribonius of Marburg on the legality of the ordeal by water in witch trials, one can deduce that Goclenius was convinced on the existence of witchcraft and adhered to the "Hexenhammer".

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