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Giordano Bruno, 1548-1600 The Man Who Saw the Universe

We have seen that Copernicus overthrew the Ptolemaic theory of the universe by proving it to be heliocentric rather than geocentric (see Lecture 6). But Copernicus kept the old astronomy by retaining the system of spheres and epicycles. Copernicus had little understanding of the plurality of worlds or universes or of the free motion of the heavenly bodies in space. It remained for the Italian philosopher, GIORDANO BRUNO (1548-1600), to make the first complete assault on Ptolemaic astronomy and the philosophical assumptions associated with it.

Click here for more about BrunoBruno was born at Nola, near Naples, in southern Italy. At an early age he entered the Dominican order in Naples. Charged with heresy in 1576, Bruno fled the convent and the Dominicans and traveled widely across Europe. His spirit was in rebellion against the more reactionary aspects of Catholicism, while his Catholic antecedents made many Protestants suspicious of him. Therefore, Bruno was not entirely welcome in either camp. This is especially important to recognize since his short life spans the period in which Catholics and Protestants were engaged in heated battle.

However, Bruno was honored by scholars and he taught at many important centers of learning, among them Toulouse, Paris, Oxford and Wittenberg. He made the mistake of returning to Italy (1591), was betrayed by one of his pupils in Venice, and turned over to the Inquisition. At the end of the Venetian trial he recanted his heresies, but was sent to Rome for another trial. Here he remained in prison for eight years, at the end of which he was sentenced as a heretic and, in February 1600, was burned alive on the Campo de’ Fiori, the first conspicuous martyr to the new world view.

Bruno mastered the existing body of mathematics and understood the Copernican system. Although he had at his disposal the necessary preparation for carrying out his an astrophysical revolution, it was conceived within a devout and pious mental climate. In the old astronomy, the earth was regarded as the center of the universe. Copernicus had replaced the earth with the sun as the center of the system. Bruno argued that there can be no such limitation of the physical universe as was implied in the system of crystalline spheres. There is neither limit nor center to the universe. Everything depends on the place of observation. Each observer on the earth may regard his point of observation as the center, but it would no so appear to an observer on the sun or on one of the other planets or the fixed stars.

Everything, then, is relative to the point of observation. Position is relative. Up and down are terms that have precise meaning only when used in regard to a particular spot in the universe. The same applies to motion — it is likewise relative. There is no absolute direction. Time is also relative.

Bruno’s notion of relativity not only upset the old astronomical conceptions, it also challenged a basic notion in Aristotle’s physics. Aristotle (384-322) had suggested that light and heavy are absolute phenomena. Heavy matter seeks the center of the universe. This is the earth, and the earth is the heaviest element. Bruno insisted that this is an error as it assigns false importance to the earth.

Even more revolutionary was Bruno’s hypothesis of a plurality of worlds and universes. Not only may there be other earths like ours — other universes may exist as well. Further, Bruno repudiated the notion that the materials in the heavens are of a higher order than earth, air, fire and water. And it had been assumed that the heavenly bodies are composed of a mysterious fifth element, the “aether.” Bruno believed that other heavenly bodies are presumably made up of the same materials as the earth, a guess which required the spectroscope of the 19th century to prove scientifically valid.

Finally, Bruno broke away from the notion of fixed starry spheres and epicycles. The heavenly bodies move freely in space, he declared, although it required the work of Galileo (1564-1642), Kepler (1571-1630), and Isaac Newton (see Lecture 7) to elucidate the problems associated with their movements and orbits. These ideas Bruno illustrated in three works: On Cause,Principle and Unity; On the Infinite Universe and the Worlds; and On the Immeasurable and Countless Worlds.

Since the medieval world view had revolved about the Christianized Ptolemaic system, embodied in Dante’s Divine Comedy, it is not difficult to see why the faithful might have looked upon Bruno with horror. He challenged geocentrism, refuted the dogma of the perfection of the heavens, and suggested that there might be a vast number of other worlds as well as universes. This last idea was particularly disconcerting. Though Bruno had no such purpose in mind, it directly opposed the creation tale specified in Genesis and constituted a grave challenge to the divinity of Jesus. Bruno’s heresy in the eyes of the Church is perhaps understandable, particularly when he put it in clear and popular language. There was a very real danger that Bruno would stir up widespread skepticism of the Christian world view. Yet Bruno himself was not an agnostic nor did he embrace a mechanistic outlook. He regarded God as at work in a creative and directive capacity in every part of the vast universe of universes which he imagined. In his theology and in his views of God and Nature, Bruno was a pious mystic and ardent Christian.

January 23, 2017 gpark10 0

Giordano Bruno

ITALIAN PHILOSOPHER
WRITTEN BY:

Giovanni Aquilecchia

1548 – 1600

The trial of Giordano Bruno by the Roman Inquisition. Bronze relief by Ettore Ferrari, Campo de' Fiori, Rome.

Giordano Bruno, original name Filippo Bruno, byname Il Nolano (born 1548, Nola, near Naples [Italy]—died February 17, 1600, Rome), Italian philosopher, astronomer, mathematician, and occultist whose theories anticipated modern science. The most notable of these were his theories of the infiniteuniverse and the multiplicity of worlds, in which he rejected the traditional geocentric (Earth-centred) astronomy and intuitively went beyond the Copernican heliocentric (Sun-centred) theory, which still maintained a finite universe with a sphere of fixed stars. Bruno is, perhaps, chiefly remembered for the tragic death he suffered at the stake because of the tenacity with which he maintained his unorthodox ideas at a time when both the Roman Catholic and Reformed churches were reaffirming rigid Aristotelian and Scholastic principles in their struggle for the evangelization of Europe.

  • Giordano Bruno, statue.
    Giordano Bruno, statue.
    © photopalace/Fotolia

EARLY LIFE

Bruno was the son of a professional soldier. He was named Filippo at his baptism and was later called “Il Nolano,” after the place of his birth. In 1562 Bruno went to Naples to study the humanities, logic, and dialectics (argumentation). He was impressed by the lectures of G.V. de Colle, who was known for his tendencies toward Averroism—i.e., the thought of a number of Western Christian philosophers who drew their inspiration from the interpretation of Aristotle put forward by the Muslim philosopher Averroës—and by his own reading of works on memory devices and the arts of memory (mnemotechnical works). In 1565 he entered the Dominican convent of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples and assumed the name Giordano. Because of his unorthodox attitudes, he was soon suspected of heresy. Nevertheless, in 1572 he was ordained as a priest. During the same year he was sent back to the Neapolitan convent to continue his study of theology. In July 1575 Bruno completed the prescribed course, which generated in him an annoyance at theological subtleties. He freely discussed the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ, and, as a result, a trial for heresy was prepared against him by the provincial father of the order, and he fled to Rome in February 1576. After forbidden commentaries by Erasmus were found in Naples with marginal notes by Bruno, he fled again in April 1576.

Bruno abandoned the Dominican order, and, after wandering in northern Italy, he went in 1578 to Geneva, where he earned his living by proofreading. He formally embraced Calvinism. After publishing a broadsheet against a Calvinist professor, however, he discovered that the Reformed church was no less intolerant than the Catholic. He was arrested, excommunicated, rehabilitated after retraction, and finally allowed to leave the city. He moved to France, first to Toulouse—where he unsuccessfully sought to be absolved by the Catholic church but was nevertheless appointed to a lectureship in philosophy—and then in 1581 to Paris.

In Paris Bruno at last found a congenial place to work and teach. Despite the strife between the Catholics and the Huguenots (French Protestants), the court of Henry III was then dominated by the tolerant faction of the Politiques (moderate Catholics, sympathizers of the Protestant king of Navarre, Henry of Bourbon, who became the heir apparent to the throne of France in 1584). Bruno’s religious attitude was compatible with this group, and he received the protection of the French king, who appointed him one of his temporary lecteurs royaux. In 1582 Bruno published three mnemotechnical works, in which he explored new means to attain an intimate knowledge of reality. He also published a vernacularcomedy, Il candelaio (1582; “The Candlemaker”), which, through a vivid representation of contemporary Neapolitan society, constituteda protest against the moral and social corruption of the time.

Numbers and Mathematics

In the spring of 1583 Bruno moved to London with an introductory letter from Henry III for his ambassador Michel de Castelnau. He was soon attracted to Oxford, where, during the summer, he started a series of lectures in which he expounded the Copernican theory maintaining the reality of the movement of Earth. Because of the hostile reception of the Oxonians, however, he went back to London as the guest of the French ambassador. He frequented the court of Elizabeth I and became associated with such influential figures as Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Dudley, the earl of Leicester.

WORKS

In February 1584 he was invited by Fulke Greville, a member of Sidney’s circle, to discuss his theory of the movement of Earth with some Oxonian doctors, but the discussion degenerated into a quarrel. A few days later he started writing his Italian dialogues, which constitute the first systematic exposition of his philosophy. There are six dialogues: three cosmological—on the theory of the universe—and three moral. In the Cena de le Ceneri (1584; “The Ash Wednesday Supper”), he not only reaffirmed the reality of the heliocentric theory but also suggested that the universe is infinite, constituted of innumerable worlds substantially similar to those of the solar system. In the same dialogue he anticipated his fellow Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei by maintaining that the Bible should be followed for its moral teaching but not for its astronomical implications. He also strongly criticized the manners of English society and the pedantry of the Oxonian doctors. In the De la causa, principio e uno (1584; Concerning the Cause, Principle, and One) he elaborated the physical theory on which his conception of the universe was based: “form” and “matter” are intimately united and constitute the “one.” Thus, the traditional dualism of the Aristotelianphysics was reduced by him to a monistic conception of the world, implying the basic unity of all substances and the coincidence of opposites in the infinite unity of Being. In the De l’infinito universo e mondi (1584; On the Infinite Universe and Worlds), he developed his cosmological theory by systematically criticizing Aristotelian physics; he also formulated his Averroistic view of the relation between philosophy and religion, according to which religion is considered as a means to instruct and govern ignorant people, philosophy as the discipline of the elect who are able to behave themselves and govern others.

The Spaccio de la bestia trionfante (1584; The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast), the first dialogue of his moral trilogy, is a satire on contemporary superstitions and vices, embodying a strong criticismof Christian ethics—particularly the Calvinistic principle of salvation by faith alone, to which Bruno opposes an exalted view of the dignity of all human activities. The Cabala del cavallo Pegaseo (1585; “Cabal of the Horse Pegasus”), similar to but more pessimistic than the previous work, includes a discussion of the relationship between the human soul and the universal soul, concluding with the negation of the absolute individuality of the former. In the De gli eroici furori (1585; The Heroic Frenzies), Bruno, making use of Neoplatonic imagery, treats the attainment of union with the infinite One by the human soul and exhorts man to the conquest of virtue and truth.

In October 1585 Bruno returned to Paris, where he found a changed political atmosphere. Henry III had abrogated the edict of pacification with the Protestants, and the king of Navarre had been excommunicated. Far from adopting a cautious line of behaviour, however, Bruno entered into a polemic with a protégé of the Catholic party, the mathematician Fabrizio Mordente, whom he ridiculed in four Dialogi, and in May 1586 he dared to attack Aristotle publicly in his Centum et viginti articuli de natura et mundo adversus Peripateticos (“120 Articles on Nature and the World Against the Peripatetics”). The Politiques disavowed him, and Bruno left Paris.

He went to Germany, where he wandered from one university city to another, lecturing and publishing a variety of minor works, including the Articuli centum et sexaginta (1588; “160 Articles”) against contemporary mathematicians and philosophers, in which he expounded his conception of religion—a theory of the peaceful coexistence of all religions based upon mutual understanding and the freedom of reciprocal discussion. At Helmstedt, however, in January 1589 he was excommunicated by the local Lutheran church. He remained in Helmstedt until the spring, completing works on natural and mathematical magic (posthumously published) and working on three Latin poems—De triplici minimo et mensura (“On the Threefold Minimum and Measure”), De monade, numero et figura (“On the Monad, Number, and Figure”), and De immenso, innumerabilibus et infigurabilibus (“On the Immeasurable and Innumerable”)—which reelaborate the theories expounded in the Italian dialogues and develop Bruno’s concept of an atomic basis of matter and being. To publish these, he went in 1590 to Frankfurt am Main, where the senate rejected his application to stay. Nevertheless, he took up residence in the Carmelite convent, lecturing to Protestant doctors and acquiring a reputation of being a “universal man” who, the prior thought, “did not possess a trace of religion” and who “was chiefly occupied in writing and in the vain and chimerical imagining of novelties.”

FINAL YEARS

In August 1591, at the invitation of the Venetian patrician Giovanni Mocenigo, Bruno made the fatal move of returning to Italy. At the time, such a move did not seem to be too much of a risk: Venice was by far the most liberal of the Italian states; the European tension had been temporarily eased after the death of the intransigent pope Sixtus V in 1590; the Protestant Henry of Bourbon was now on the throne of France; and a religious pacification seemed to be imminent. Furthermore, Bruno was still looking for an academic platform from which to expound his theories, and he must have known that the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua was then vacant. Indeed, he went almost immediately to Padua and, during the late summer of 1591, started a private course of lectures for German students and composed the Praelectiones geometricae (“Lectures on Geometry”) and Ars deformationum (“Art of Deformation”).

At the beginning of the winter, when it appeared that he was not going to receive the chair (it was offered to Galileo in 1592), he returned to Venice, as the guest of Mocenigo, and took part in the discussions of progressive Venetian aristocrats who, like Bruno, favoured philosophical investigation irrespective of its theological implications. Bruno’s liberty came to an end when Mocenigo—disappointed by his private lessons from Bruno on the art of memory and resentful of Bruno’s intention to go back to Frankfurt to have a new work published—denounced him to the Venetian Inquisition in May 1592 for his heretical theories. Bruno was arrested and tried. He defended himself by admitting minor theological errors, emphasizing, however, the philosophical rather than the theological character of his basic tenets. The Venetian stage of the trial seemed to be proceeding in a way that was favourable to Bruno. Then, however, the Roman Inquisition demanded his extradition, and on January 27, 1593, Bruno entered the jail of the Roman palace of the Sant’Uffizio (Holy Office).

During the seven-year Roman period of the trial, Bruno at first developed his previous defensive line, disclaiming any particular interest in theological matters and reaffirming the philosophical character of his speculation. This distinction did not satisfy the inquisitors, who demanded an unconditional retraction of his theories. Bruno then made a desperate attempt to demonstrate that his views were not incompatible with the Christian conception of God and creation. The inquisitors rejected his arguments and pressed him for a formal retraction. Bruno finally declared that he had nothing to retract and that he did not even know what he was expected to retract. At that point, Pope Clement VIII ordered that he be sentenced as an impenitent and pertinacious heretic. On February 8, 1600, when the death sentence was formally read to him, he addressed his judges, saying: “Perhaps your fear in passing judgment on me is greater than mine in receiving it.” Not long after, he was taken to the Campo de’ Fiori, his tongue in a gag, and burned alive.

INFLUENCE

Bruno’s theories influenced 17th-century scientific and philosophical thought and, since the 18th century, have been absorbed by many modern philosophers. As a symbol of the freedom of thought, Bruno inspired the European liberal movements of the 19th century, particularly the Italian Risorgimento (the movement for national political unity). Because of the variety of his interests, modern scholars are divided as to the chief significance of his work. Bruno’s cosmological vision certainly anticipates some fundamental aspects of the modern conception of the universe; his ethical ideas, in contrast to religious ascetical ethics, appeal to modern humanistic activism; and his ideal of religious and philosophical tolerance has influenced liberal thinkers. On the other hand, his emphasis on the magical and the occult has been a source of criticism, as has been his impetuous personality. Bruno stands, however, as one of the important figures in the history of Western thought, a precursor of modern civilization.

Giovanni Aquilecchia

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Giordano Bruno – Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
(1548-1600). Italian philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Giordano Bruno defied traditional theories of his day by teaching that the universe was infinite. Many of Bruno’s theories anticipated modern science.

ARTICLE CONTRIBUTORS

ARTICLE HISTORY

January 23, 2017 gpark10 0

COPERNICUS AND THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

“ We shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe“

 

  • If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I despise their judgment as rash. For it is not unknown that Lactantius, the writer celebrated in other ways but very little in mathematics, spoke somewhat childishly of the shape of the earth when he derided those who declared the earth had the shape of a ball. So it ought not to surprise students if such should laugh at us also. Mathematics is written for mathematicians to whom these our labors, if I am not mistaken, will appear to contribute something even to the ecclesiastical state the headship of which your Holiness now occupies.(Author’s preface to de revolutionibus)
    • Translation as quoted in The Gradual Acceptance of the Copernican Theory of the Universe (1917) by Dorothy Stimson, p. 115
  • Finally we shall place the Sun himself at the center of the Universe. All this is suggested by the systematic procession of events and the harmony of the whole Universe, if only we face the facts, as they say, “with both eyes open.”
    • As quoted in The Copernican Revolution : Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought (1957) by Thomas S. Kuhn
  • To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge.
    • As quoted in Poland : The Knight Among Nations (1907) by Louis E. Van Norman, p. 290; also in The Language of God (2006) by Francis Collins, pp. 230-31.

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (1543)

 
The sun is not inappropriately called by some people the lantern of the universe, its mind by others, and its ruler by still others. The Thrice Greatest labels it a visible god, and Sophocles’ Electra, the all-seeing. Thus indeed, as though seated on a royal throne, the sun governs the family of planets revolving around it.
  • Neque enim ita mihi mea placent, ut non perpendam, quid alii de illis iudicaturi sint. Et quamvis sciam, hominis philosophi cogitationes esse remotas à iudicio vulgi, propterea quòd illius studium sit veritatem omnibus in rebus, quatenus id à Deo rationi humanæ permissum est, inquirere, tamen alienas prorsus à rectitudine opiniones fugiendas censeo. Itaque cum mecum ipse cogitarem, quàm absurdum ἀκρόαμα existimaturi essent illi, qui multorum seculorum iudiciis hanc opinionem confirmatam norunt, quòd terra immobilis in medio cœli, tanquam centrum illius posita sit, si ego contra assererem terram moveri…
    • For I am not so enamored of my own opinions that I disregard what others may think of them. I am aware that a philosopher’s ideas are not subject to the judgment of ordinary persons, because it is his endeavor to seek the truth in all things, to the extent permitted to human reason by God. Yet I hold that completely erroneous views should be shunned. Those who know that the consensus of many centuries has sanctioned the conception that the earth remains at rest in the middle of the heaven as its center would, I reflected, regard it as an insane pronouncement if I made the opposite assertion that the earth moves.
    • Preface.
  • When, therefore, I had long considered this uncertainty of traditional mathematics, it began to weary me that no more definite explanation of the movement of the world-machine established in our behalf by the best and most systematic builder of all, existed among the philosophers who had studied so exactly in other respects the minutest details in regard to the sphere. Wherefore I took upon myself the task of re-reading the books of all the philosophers which I could obtain, to seek out whether any one had ever conjectured that the motions of the spheres of the universe were other than they supposed who taught mathematics in the schools. And I found first, that, according to Cicero, Nicetas [assumed by modern editors to mean Hicetas] had thought the earth was moved. Then later I discovered, according to Plutarch, that certain others had held the same opinion. … When from this, therefore, I had conceived its possibility, I myself also began to meditate upon the mobility of the earth. And although the opinion seemed absurd, yet because I knew the liberty had been accorded to others before me of imagining whatsoever circles they pleased to explain the phenomena of the stars, I thought I also might readily be allowed to experiment whether, by supposing the earth to have some motion, stronger demonstrations than those of the others could be found as to the revolution of the celestial sphere. Thus, supposing these motions which I attribute to the earth later on in this book, I found at length by much and long observation, that if the motions of the other planets were added to the rotation of the earth and calculated as for the revolution of that planet, not only the phenomena of the others followed from this, but also it so bound together both the order and magnitude of all the planets and the spheres and the heaven itself, that in no single part could one thing be altered without confusion among the other parts and in all the universe. Hence for this reason in the course of this work I have followed this system.
  • Nor do I doubt that skilled and scholarly mathematicians will agree with me if, what philosophy requires from the beginning, they will examine and judge, not casually but deeply, what I have gathered together in this book to prove these things. …Mathematics is written for mathematicians, to whom these my labours, if I am not mistaken, will appear to contribute something. …What… I may have achieved in this, I leave to the decision of your Holiness especially, and to all other learned mathematicians. …If perchance there should be foolish speakers who, together with those ignorant of all mathematics, will take it upon themselves to decide concerning these things, and because of some place in the Scriptures wickedly distorted to their purpose, should dare to assail this my work, they are of no importance to me, to such an extent do I despise their judgment as rash.

 

January 22, 2017 gpark10 0

GALILEO GALILEI

 “What was observed by us in the third place is the nature or matter of the Milky Way itself, which, with the aid of the spyglass, may be observed so well that all the disputes that for so many generations have vexed philosophers are destroyed by visible certainty, and we are liberated from wordy arguments.

“Surely it is a great thing to increase the numerous host of fixed stars previously visible to the unaided vision, adding countless more which have never before been seen, exposing these plainly to the eye in numbers ten times exceeding the old and familiar stars.

“Revealing great, unusual, and remarkable spectacles, opening these to the consideration of every man, and especially of philosophers and astronomers; as observed by Galileo Galilei, Gentleman of Florence, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Padua, with the aid of a spyglass lately invented by him, in the surface of the Moon, in innumerable fixed stars, in nebulae, and above all in four planets swiftly revolving about Jupiter at differing distances and periods, and known to no one before the author recently perceived them and decided they should be named the Medicean Stars.”

NOVA FILM ON GALILEO’S LIFE BASED ON THE BOOK GALILEO’S DAUGHTERS  BY DAVA SOBEL

January 22, 2017 gpark10 0

WHO WAS THIS MAN?

  • There are countless suns and countless earths all rotating round their suns in exactly the same way as the seven planets of our system. We see only the suns because they are the largest bodies and are luminous, but their planets remain invisible to us because they are smaller and non-luminous. The countless worlds in the universe are no worse and no less inhabited than our earth. For it is utterly unreasonable to suppose that those teeming worlds which are as magnificent as our own, perhaps more so, and which enjoy the fructifying rays of a sun just as we do, should be uninhabited and should not bear similar or even more perfect inhabitants than our earth. The unnumbered worlds in the universe are all similar in form and rank and subject to the same forces and the same laws. Impart to us the knowledge of the universality of terrestrial laws throughout all worlds and of the similarity of all substances in the cosmos! Destroy the theories that the earth is the centre of the universe! Crush the supernatural powers said to animate the world, along with the so-called crystalline spheres! Open the door through which we can look out into the limitless, unified firmament composed of similar elements and show us that the other worlds float in an ethereal ocean like our own! Make it plain to us that the motions of all the worlds proceed from inner forces and teach us in the light of such attitudes to go forward with surer tread in the investigation and discovery of nature! Take comfort, the time will come when all men will see as I do.
    • As quoted in The Discovery of Nature (1965), by Albert W. Bettex.

Thoughts on Nicolaus Copernicus, as translated in Agnes Mary Clerke: Copernicus in Italy

He was a man of grave and cultivated mind, of rapid and mature intelligence; inferior to no preceding astronomer, unless in order of succession and time ; a man, who in natural ability was far superior to Ptolemy, Hipparchus, Eudoxus, and all those others who followed in their footsteps. What he was, he became through having liberated himself from certain false axioms of the common and vulgar philosophy — I will not say blindness. Nevertheless, he did not depart far from them ; because, studying mathematics rather than Nature, he failed to penetrate and dig deep enough altogether to cut away the roots of incongruous and vain principles, and thus, removing perfectly all opposing difficulties, free himself and others from so many empty investigations into things obvious and unchangeable. In spite of all this, who can sufficiently praise the magnanimity of this German, who, having little regard to the foolish multitude, stood firm against the torrent of contrary opinion, and, although well-nigh unarmed with living arguments, resuming those rusty and neglected fragments which antiquity had transmitted to him, polished, repaired, and put them together with reasonings more mathematical than philosophical ; and so rendered that cause formerly contemned and contemptible, honourable, estimable, more probable than its rival, and certainly convenient and expeditious for purposes of theory and calculation? Thus this Teuton, although with means insufficient to vanquish, overthrow, and suppress falsehood, as well as resist it, nevertheless resolutely determined in his own mind, and openly confessed this final and necessary conclusion : that it is more possible that this globe should move with regard to the universe, than that the innumerable multitude of bodies, many of which are known to be greater and more magnificent than our earth, should be compelled, in spite of Nature and reason, which, by means of motions evident to the senses, proclaim the contrary, to acknowledge this globe as the centre and base of their revolutions and influences. Who then will be so churlish and discourteous towards the efforts of this man, as to cover with oblivion all he has done, by being ordained of the Gods as an Aurora — which was to precede the rising of this Sun of the true, ancient philosophy, buried during so many centuries in the tenebrous caverns of blind, malignant, froward, envious ignorance; and, taking note only of what he failed to accomplish, rank him amongst the number of the herded multitude, which discourses, guides itself, precipitates to destruction, according to the oral sense of a brutal and ignoble belief, rather than amongst those who, by the use of right reason, have been able to rise up, and resume the true course under the faithful guidance of the eye of divine intelligence.

Cause, Principle, and Unity (1584)

Blind error, avaricious time, adverse fortune,
Deaf envy, vile madness, jealous iniquity,
Crude heart, perverse spirit, insane audacity,
Will not be sufficient to obscure the air for me,
Will not place the veil before my eyes,
Will never bring it about that I shall not
Contemplate my beautiful Sun.
De la Causa, Principio e Uno (1584) [Various translations]

Anything we take in the Universe, because it has in itself that which is All in All, includes in its own way, the entire soul of the world, which is entirely in any part of it.

This whole which is visible in different ways in bodies, as far as formation, constitution, appearance, colors and other properties and common qualities, is none other than the diverse face of the same substance…

Everything that consists in generation, decay, alteration and change is not an entity, but a condition and circumstance of entity and being…

Everywhere there is incessant relative change in position throughout the universe, and the observer is always at the centre of things.
  • Cause, Principle, and One eternal
    From whom being, life, and movement are suspended,
    And which extends itself in length, breadth, and depth,
    To whatever is in Heaven, on Earth, and Hell    ;
    With sense, with reason, with mind, I discern,
    That there is no act, measure, nor calculation, which can comprehend That force, that vastness and that number,
    Which exceeds whatever is inferior, middle, and highest;
    Blind error, avaricious time, adverse fortune,
    Deaf envy, vile madness, jealous iniquity,
    Crude heart, perverse spirit, insane audacity,
    Will not be sufficient to obscure the air for me,
    Will not place the veil before my eyes,
    Will never bring it about that I shall not
    Contemplate my beautiful Sun.
January 21, 2017 gpark10 0

Copernicus and the Scientific Revolution

Published on May 18, 2012

The observations of a 14th century Polish monk sparked the Scientific Revolution and profoundly altered the trajectory of humankind. The Webb Telescope (scheduled to launch in 2018) will be yet another milestone along the trajectory that began with Copernicus over 500 years ago, as we will soon peer into the furthest reaches of outer space and back in time to the ‘Big Bang’ 13 billion years ago when the universe was created.

January 18, 2017 gpark10 0

Giordano Bruno

There are countless suns and countless earths all rotating round their suns in exactly the same way as the seven planets of our system. We see only the suns because they are the largest bodies and are luminous, but their planets remain invisible to us because they are smaller and non-luminous. The countless worlds in the universe are no worse and no less inhabited than our earth. For it is utterly unreasonable to suppose that those teeming worlds which are as magnificent as our own, perhaps more so, and which enjoy the fructifying rays of a sun just as we do, should be uninhabited and should not bear similar or even more perfect inhabitants than our earth. The unnumbered worlds in the universe are all similar in form and rank and subject to the same forces and the same laws. Impart to us the knowledge of the universality of terrestrial laws throughout all worlds and of the similarity of all substances in the cosmos! Destroy the theories that the earth is the centre of the universe! Crush the supernatural powers said to animate the world, along with the so-called crystalline spheres! Open the door through which we can look out into the limitless, unified firmament composed of similar elements and show us that the other worlds float in an ethereal ocean like our own! Make it plain to us that the motions of all the worlds proceed from inner forces and teach us in the light of such attitudes to go forward with surer tread in the investigation and discovery of nature! Take comfort, the time will come when all men will see as I do.

January 17, 2017 gpark10 0

Martyr of Infinity (Giordano Bruno)

Originally made by Giuliano Montaldo in 1973, short clips cut and re-arranged with added English subtitles and music to depict Giordano Bruno’s philosophical ideals, his reasoning on infinity and his ultimate end.

 

De immenso (1591)

De innumerabilibus, immenso et infigurabili, usually referred to as De immenso (1591)

The infinity of All ever bringing forth anew, and even as infinite space is around us, so is infinite potentiality, capacity, reception, malleability, matter.

Eternity maintaineth her substance throughout time, immensity throughout space, universal form throughout motion.

The single spirit doth simultaneously temper the whole together; this is the single soul of all things; all are filled with God.
  • The infinity of All ever bringing forth anew, and even as infinite space is around us, so is infinite potentiality, capacity, reception, malleability, matter.
January 13, 2017 gpark10 0

From Bondage to Freedom to the Industrial Revolution

GALILEO – NOVA DOCUMENTARY

Published on Dec 5, 2014

The pioneering astronomer and condemned heretic comes to life in this fascinating film version of Dava Sobel’s best-seller, Galileo’s Daughter.

 

James Watt and his Patent on the Steam Engine

James Robinson speaks at TED

 

James Robinson, co-author of “Why Nations Fail” gives a Ted Talk:

The History of Patents

Nial Fergson – Why Nations Fail

Why Nations Fail

Niall Ferguson on Why Nations Fail

 

How are we to explain the ultimate global imbalance which placed a minority of mankind – at most a fifth – in such a position of material and political dominance over the rest (of the world)? It seems implausible that it was due to some innate superiority of Europeans, as the racial theorists of the nineteenth and twentieth centres often argued….Nor can we explain the great divergence in terms of imperialism; the other civilizations did (lent?) of that before Europeans began crossing oceans and conquering. For the historian Kenneth Pomeranz, who coined the phrase “the real divergence”, it was really just a matter of luck. Europeans were fortunate enough to stumble on the so called “ghost acres” of the Caribbean, which were soon providing the peoples of the Atlantic metropoles with abundant sugar, a compact source of calories unavailable to most Asians. Europeans were also fortunate to have more readily accessible deposits of coal… the best answers to the question of what caused the great divergence focus on the role of institutions. … (There are ) two phases or patterns of human organization. The first is…the natural state or “limited access pattern”, characterized by:

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Religious Toleration in England

GP: The Industrial Revolution could not have occurred without the development of religious toleration in England. There is a definite historical progression from religious toleration to political toleration to the affirmation of property rights and the enforcement of patents. And there is a paradoxical, dialectic relationship between patents and progress. On the one hand patents give the inventor the incentive to imagine and create. On the other hand, it holds other back from improving upon his invention.

By W.K. Jordan

The Laymen and the Moderates:

The revolutionary period witnessed the triumph of the lay spirit in England. We have previously observed that an important body of lay thought had been developing in England which had embraced the principles of religious toleration and which was disposed to wrest from the hands a divided clergy the solution of the complex problems of the settlement of religion and the treatment of dissent. The outbreak of civil war had the immediate effect of intensifying religious conflict within the realm of losing for the time being the destructive forces of fanaticism and sectarian intolerance. The cool and reasoned persuasions of moderate counsels were for the moment engulfed by a tide of religious extremism. It was again demonstrated that war and the fanaticisms which under-gird it are destructive to the slow but constructive processes by which reasonable and moderate men seek to solve the problems that confront mankind. READ MORE

January 5, 2017 gpark10 0

The Edict of Nantes

Revocation of the Edict of Nantes: The Edict of Fontainebleau (1685)

huguenots-5

AFigure 1.–This engraving shows a group of Huguenots coming ashore at Dover in 1685. I’m not sure if it is based on a painting and when it was produced. An English reader tells us, “This is how my ancestors probably arrived in England. They came to Canterbury and were given refuge in the Black Prince’s Chantry which is in the crypt of the South Transept of Canterbury Cathedral. This part of the Cathedral is now known as the Huguenot Chapel and Services are still conducted there, every Sunday, In French!”

After years of persecution under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, Louis XIV finally took the ultimate step–revoking the Edict of Nantes (1685). As a result of these persecutions life for many Protestants became intolerable in France. It was not just the lack of religious freedoms, but many other matters. The state refused to recognize Protestant marriages leaving the children illegitimate. This affected property rights and inheritances. Large numbers of Huguenots fled France, leaving for Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and the English colonies in America (especially New York, Massachusetts, and South Carolina). As a result, many Americans of French ancestry are Protestants. Except for the Huguenots few French people emigrated to America. France is one of the few European countries in which large numbers of did not emigrants to America. Interesting in that the French showed such an enthusiasm for America, No one knows precisely how many French Protestants emigrated. Louis attempted to discourage emigration and force them to convert. Estimates range from 0.4-1.0 million. About 1.0 million Protestants remained in France. Many settled in the isolated Cévennes Mountains becoming known as the Camisards. Louis XIV ordered them removed, resulting in the Camisard War (1702-05). It proved to be a disaster to France that would be paid in installments down to the 20th century. France by conservative estimates lost More than 0.4 million of her finest citizens with all their talents and abilities. It many ways it was comparable to the NAZI campaign against its Jewish citizens–only worse because the Huguenots were a much larger portion of the French population. Those that managed to emigrate would fight Louis in his attempt to take over the Netherlands and subsequently to return James II to the English throne. Their descendants would play a prominent role in the German armies that fought the French down to World War II.

The Edict of Nantes (1598)

The Edict of Nantes is one of the great acts of religious tolerance. It stemmed from the French Religious Wars which tore the country apart. The Religious Wars including the eight outbreaks of violence occurred during the reign of Henry III who succeeded Charles IX. The Huguenots led by Henry of Navarre defeated the Catholic forces at Coutras (1587). The Huguenots were aided by infighting among the Catholics. The Duc de Guise was assassinated by other Catholics (1588) as was Henry III himself (1589). With Henry’s death the House of Valois became extinct and of all people, the Protestant leader Henry of Navarre became king, the first monarch of the Bourbon line. To end the destructive civil wars, Henry converted to Catholicism (1593). He issued the Edict of Nantes granting almost complete religious freedom on the Protestants. With this freedom during the reign of Henry, the Protestants grew to be a major force in France. The Edict of Nantes was signed by Henry IV (1598). This ended the Wars of Religion. Under the terms of the Edict, the Huguenots were permitted to freely practice their faith in 20 specified French “free” cities. France was again became united and a decade of peace followed. Henry IV was murdered (in 1610)

Assassination of Henry IV (1610)

King Henry IV was murdered by a religious zealot (1610). The King was traveling from the Louvre to meet his great minister Sully. As a consequence of the Religious Wars, the King was usually well guarded in public, but after the passage of so many years without incident, the standards of precaution had fallen. Rather than using his heavy coach with class windows, the King who was increasingly dismissive of danger, chose a light phaeton which had open sides. It was much more maneuverable in the crowded streets of Paris. A hay wagon blocked the street. The King’s guard left his side to clear the way. François Ravaillac a failed monk and school teacher who had hallucinations had been stalking the King, seized on the opportunity. He jumped on the running board and slashed at the King with a knife. Henry was reading a letter and unprepared. His second blow severed the King’s aorta. Ravaillac was seized and horribly tortured to learn of any conspirators. Ravaillac insisted he acted alone and this appears to have been the case. Henry’s enlightened reign had given France more than a decade of peace in the religious wars. Had he lived longer it might have proved to be an enduring peace. With his death, it proved to be only a truce and the greatly improved power of the state in Catholic hands irrevocably changed the balance of power between the two religions.

Louis XIII and Louis XIV

Henry IV is commonly considered one of the great monarchs of France. One serious failure, however, was his failure to develop in his son an enlightened attitude toward religion. This failure was to doom the Huguenots whose cause Henry had so valiantly championed. Louis under the influence of his mother grew up to be devoutly Catholic and intolerant. Louis XIII after the murder of his father, Henry IV, rose to the throne. He sought to create an absolutist monarchy and organized groups like the Huguenots stood in his way. As a result, new persecutions were conducted and renewed fighting occurred. Huguenots that fell into Louis’ hands were sentenced to the galleys. The campaign to suppress the Huguenots was conducted under the guidance of Cardinal Richelieu. Louis XIII is another important French king. This was not the result of Louis himself, but rather his choice of Richelieu to oversee his reign. Richelieu He focused on the campaign against the Huguenots. He adroitly succeeded in breaking the political and military power of the Huguenots. After a protracted siege, the great Huguenot stronghold La Rochelle was finally taken (1628). He then attempted to conciliate the Protestants–to a degree. Louis XIV was even more committed to building an absolute monarchy. He is most famous for his statement, “I am the state.” To this end, Louis ordered a merciless persecution of the Huguenots, culminating in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Louis XIV’ Beliefs

Louis XIV fervently believed that diversity of religion weakened his kingdom and authority. It is not altogether clear how important religion was to him. It is clear that the thought religious division weakened him politically. This was especially the case because he was planning a series of wars with neighboring Protestant countries. He thought that France needed one common religion. This was not a novel idea. Many European monarchs shared this idea and would continue to believe this into the next century. The difference between Louis and other monarchs is that Louis had achieved an absolute monarchy. Thus the Huguenots in France had no protection of law beyond the Edict of Nantes. The situation was quite different in many other countries, especially England. This is what Mary tried to do, but did not have Louis’ powers. Any fear of just such an action would cost Charles I his head (English Civil War) and James II his crown (Miraculous Revolution).

Revocation (1685)

Just as the Edict of Nantes is one of the great acts of religious toleration, it’s revocation by Louis XIV is one of the great acts of religious intolerance of history. After years of quiet persecution under Louis XIII and Louis XIV, Louis XIV finally took the ultimate step–revoking the Edict of Nantes (1685). The King’s mistress, Mme. de Maintenon is believed to have helped make up his mind to suppress the Huguenots. The revocation was issued as the Edict of Fontainebleau (October 1685). The revocation opened the way for the destruction of Protestant churches and schools. This was not the beginning of the persecution of the Huguenots, but it essentialy authorized that persecution. It made official royal policy that had been made possible after Huguenot military power was broken at La Rochelle (1628). Louis XIII and Louis XIV gradually chipped away a Protestantism in France. The Revocation did raise the level of action against the Huguenots. The King in the Edict ordered, ” The Edit of Nantes shall be abolished in its entirety. The Protestant temples shall be destroyed without exception. ….”

Text

Louis’ Edict of Fontainebleau revoking the Edict of Nantes is notable for the focus on the wealth and children of the Huguenots. The text read,

* The Edit of Nantes shall be abolished in its entirety.

* The Protestant temples shall be destroyed without exception.

* The Reformed clergy who do not immediately renounce, must leave the kingdom within two weeks under penalty of the galleys. Children over seven years of age may not be taken aboard, since they are of age in religious matters.

* All Reformed schools shall be dissolved, and all Reformed religious instruction prohibited.

* The followers of the “allegedly Reformed religion” (the religion which displeases the king) are prohibited from assembling for services or other meetings in any location whatsoever, or in a private residence, under penalty of seizure of their property and themselves.

* The children born to Reformed parents are to be baptized Catholic and sent to the Catholic churches (under penalty of 500 livres or more). The judges of the towns are explicitly instructed to supervise the enforcement of these decrees.

* The subjects, their wives and children, are prohibited from emigrating, or from removing their possessions and goods from the country under penalty of the galleys for the men and the seizure of body and possessions for the women. Those who already had left the country had four months to return without penalty, if they renounced.

Persecution

The destruction pf Protestant churches did not begin with the Revocation, but the pace quickened. Louis was determined to utterly destroy Protestantism in France and to annihilate those Huguenots who refused to convert. François Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, (1641-91) was Louis XIV’s Minister of State and War. He played a major role in building the French Army into the most powerful in Europe. And he used the Army to execute the King’s orders to destroy Protestantism and recalcitrant Huguenots. Louvois instituted the dreaded dragonnades. These were armed raids by the military to capture Huguenots and seize their property. They were accompanied by torture and pillage–the torture was both gratuitous and to make sure all the valuables were turned over. Protestant areas in the provinces which refused to convert were laid waste. Languedoc in particular were targeted. Louis within a few moths reduced the number if Protestants by about three-fourths. Faced with extinction, most converted. Those who publicly refused conversion faced execution or the galleys. The other option was emigration. Louis attempted to prevent this by confiscating the property of those who attempted to flee. Protestants were denied public office and often the ability to make decent livelihoods. Violence against individual Protestants varied. There were forced conversion in the countryside. Some individuals who spit out the host were burned at the stake in scenes reminiscent of the Inquisition. King Louis ordered the arrest of the most prominent Protestant nobles in Paris under lettres de cachet. They were incarcerated in the Bastille under harsh conditions, but not tortured. They were held their until they accepted conversion. Many died there rather than renounce their religion.

Conversion

About 1.0 million Protestants remained in France. It is difficult to assess how sincere the conversions were. Some Huguenots managed to discretely practice their religion. We know this because in the next century Protestants reappeared in France, but with much reduced numbers. Discreetly practicing Protestantism was difficult because of both the children and servants–some of the problems the Jewish Meranos faced in evading the Inquisition. French Protestants could avoid going to Church, but the children were not only a danger when young, but they were likely over time to be drawn into Catholic culture. Notice the emphasis placed on the children in thee text Louis’ revocation order.

Refugees

Life for Protestants as a result of Louis’ Revocation policies became intolerable in France. It was not just the lack of religious freedoms, but many other matters. The state refused to recognize Protestant marriages leaving the children illegitimate. This affected property rights and inheritances. Large numbers of Huguenots fled France. They became productive citizens in the countries which offered them refuge. They fled to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and the English colonies in America (especially New York, Massachusetts, and South Carolina). A s a result, many Americans of French ancestry are Protestants. Except for the Huguenots few French people emigrated to America. France is one of the few European countries in which large numbers of did not emigrants to America. Interesting in that the French showed such an enthusiasm for America, Many Huguenots also went to South Africa where they started the wine business. Most of them became Afrikaans-speaking Boers. No one knows precisely how many French Protestants emigrated. Louis attempted to discourage emigration and force them to convert. Estimates range from 0.4-1.0 million.

Camisard War (1702-05)

Some Huguenots seeking to avoid conversion settled in the isolated Cévennes Mountains becoming known as the Camisards. Louis XIV ordered them removed, resulting in the Camisard War (1702-05).

Impact

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes proved to be a disaster to France that would be paid in installments down to the 20th century. France by conservative estimates lost More than 0.4 million of her finest citizens with all their talents, abilities, and technical skills. Among the Huguenot refugees were some of the luminaries of French finance, science, and industry. One such individual was Christtiaan Huygens. He was the inventor of the pendulum clock and first theorized that the stars were distant suns. Huygens fled back to his native Netherlands. Students of history will immediately appreciate that France’s fatal weakness in its coming wars with England was finance. And the loss of Huguenots in finance and industry was one factor in France’s weakness. France’s loss helped strengthen the economies of the newly Protestant countries on France’s borders. The industries they built or improved would help finance the resistance to Louis XIV and his descendants. Silk makers set up an English industry and mafe imprivements to the hitherto moribund weaving industry. England earlier imported luxurious fabrics and substantial cost. Glass makers did the same in Denmark. Perhaps the greatest impact was in the military realm. There were 600 military officers that deserted the King’s army and joined those of his enemies. Those that managed to emigrate would fight Louis in his attempt to take over the Netherlands and subsequently to return James II to the English throne. The tales of abuse, torture, and killing brought to these countries helped steel the resolve to resist both the French ad Catholoicism. Huguenots played a prominent role in William’s Protestant army at the Battle of the Boyne. The Prussian monarchy welcomed the Huguenots and they their descendants would play a major role in the subsequent Prussian/German wars with France down to World War II. We see French names among the Prussian/Germany military commnders. It was odd that during World War I and World War II some French generals had German names (Huntzinger, Koenig) while there were German commanders with names like de Maizière and Foucqué. In World War I Huguenot descendants included General von François and Admiral Souchon. In World War II we see Luftwaffe commander Adolf Galland. Another famous Luftwaffe ace of Huguenot descent was Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille. He had 158 victories. but Was shot down in North Africa, age 22. (The extrodinarily high victory count of Luftwaffe fighter pilots during World war II were primarily achieved in the East.)

Other Historical Acts of Religious Intolerance

The Revocation of the Edict Nantes was one of the several notable acts of religious intolerance. Another occurred in France–the suppression of the Cathars (13th century). This led to the creation of the Holy Office of the Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition is the best known, but the Inquisition offered in other countries as well. Another act was the Spanish expulsion of the Jews (1492) and subsequent expulsion of the Moors. The English in contrast persecuted the Catholics. The Japanese suppression of Christians is another example, The French Catholic campaign against the Huguenots is similar to the NAZI campaign against its Jewish citizens–only worse because the Huguenots were a much larger portion of the French population. In modern times, the Soviet atheism campaign is another example. The one recurrent thread through these different acts of religious intolerance besides the tragedy for the people targeted was how the country which expelled them was adversely affected. Perhaps the ultimate example here was the NAZI persecution of the Jews. The Jewish refugees played a major role building the atomic bomb. And had the NAZIs not surrendered (May 1945), could have been used on Germany rather than Japan.

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January 4, 2017 gpark10 0