Tree of Science

The Tree of Science (Catalan: “Arbre de Ciència”) is an important work by the Catalan philosopher, theologian and mystic Ramon Llull. It was written in Latin in 1295-96, and in it, Llull uses the metaphor of a tree to describe the different disciplines or fields of knowledge, including: theology, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, geography, psychology and others.
In this work, Llull presents an organization of knowledge based on the analogy of the tree, with its roots, trunk, branches, leaves and fruits, representing different levels and branches of science. For example, the roots represent the fundamental principles of knowledge, the trunk symbolizes the major philosophical disciplines, and the branches and leaves represent the subdivisions of these disciplines.
Llull also integrates his famous “art” into this work, which is a logical-combinatorial method for reasoning and argumentation that seeks truth through the combination of certain fundamental principles and categories.
In the Tree of Science, Llull tries to build a system that encompasses all knowledge and that can be used as a tool for interreligious dialogue, a constant concern in his life and work. Its goal is to demonstrate that all truths come from a common source and can be reconciled with each other, and ultimately with divine truth.