The Epistemological Transformation of the Book of Nature: From Mirror to Touch
Roczniki Filozoficzne March 25, 2026 Magdalena Krasińska
The metaphor of the Book of Nature shifts from a catoptric (mirror-based) to a haptic (touch-based) model of perception. Tracing biblical and medieval origins, the article examines symbolic and theological frameworks that cast nature as a divine mirror. Francis Bacon conceived nature as a legible system of signs, influenced by kabbalistic motifs and the catoptric paradigm. In contrast, George Berkeley’s immaterialist epistemology reinterprets nature as a medium of divine communication through touch rather than reflection, pointing toward a sensory theology grounded in embodied perception.