Knowledge

Human knowledge is acknowledged as critically important to economic growth and prosperity. Economists focus on the past few decades’ emergence of a knowledge-based economy greatly dependent on individual-level knowledge. Knowledge is a key resource of many organizations, and the need for an educated workforce is believed to facilitate the creation, share, and use of firm-level knowledge going forward.
An economy where knowledge is the main asset is very different from traditional production systems that depend on tangible assets. These tangible assets often rely upon scarce resources such as minerals, thereby forcing price fluctuations and potential disruptions in inventory and sales. Logistics and supply chain issues can dwindle as we have experienced during the recent pandemic. However, when knowledge is the firm’s main asset, the firm’s intangible asset will not decrease as sales increase. Knowledge also does not spoil or dwindle over time. Instead, knowledge will grow and evolve, and as the philosopher Aristotle once stated, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. The fact that knowledge as the main asset does not decrease as a result of production makes the knowledge economy an interesting phenomenon to study and to understand.

This study examines the themes of alchemy and transformation in Paradise Lost and seventeenth-century thought. Beginning with an overvieiw of the historical roots of alchemy, this study analyzes the ancient, underlying philosophical concepts that marital union produces the birth of the soul and that destruction is necessary for this birth. Alchemical references identified in Paradise Lost include animal lore and direct alchemical images, which demonstrate Milton's knowledge of alchemy and his deliberate use of the alchemical metaphor. These themes support the proposal that Milton, a Christian humanist, uses alchemy as a metaphor described in this study as "divine alchemy," which begins with his belief that Christians, inheriting original sin, must submit themselves to a transformative process similar to transmutation to restore right reason and, ultimately, achieve salvation.