Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance: Reception, Legacy, Transformation (History of Science and Medicine Library / Medieval and Early Modern Science, 23, 45)

In Copernicus In The Cultural Debates Of The Renaissance, Pietro Daniel Omodeo Presents A General Overview Of The Reception Of Copernicus's Astronomical Proposal From The Years Immediately Preceding The Publication Of De Revolutionibus (1543) To The Roman Prohibition Of Heliocentric Hypotheses In 1616. Relying On A Detailed Investigation Of Early Modern Sources, The Author Systematically Examines A Series Of Issues Ranging From Computation To Epistemology, Natural Philosophy, Theology And Ethics. In Addition To Offering A Pluralistic And Interdisciplinary Perspective On Post-copernican Astronomy, The Study Goes Beyond Purely Cosmological And Geometrical Issues And Engages In A Wide-ranging Discussion Of How Copernicus's Legacy Interacted With European Culture And How His Image And Theories Evolved As A Result.-- By Pietro Daniel Omodeo. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 List of Illustrations 12 List of Abbreviations of Journals and Reference Books 13 Introduction 16 Chapter 1 Copernicus between 1514 and 1616: An Overview 26 1 Copernicus’s Connection 26 2 Platonizing Humanists 30 3 Rheticus and the Printing of De revolutionibus 34 4 The Network of German Mathematicians 38 5 Italy 40 6 France 46 7 Spain and Flanders 50 8 England and Scotland 52 9 Central European Circles and Courts 58 10 The Physical-Cosmological Turn 63 11 Heliocentrism between Two Centuries: Kepler and Galileo 66 12 Geo-Heliocentrism and Copernican Hypotheses 68 13 The Difficult Reconciliation between Copernicus and the Sacred Scripture 71 14 Copernicus before and after 1616 74 15 Summary of the Main Lines of the Early Reception of Copernicus 78 Chapter 2 Astronomy at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Epistemology 81 1 A Split Reception of Copernicus 81 2 Copernicus Presents Himself as a Mathematician 85 3 Cosmology and Mathematics in Copernicus’s Commentariolus 86 4 A Clash of Authorities: Averroist Criticism of Mathematical Astronomy 91 5 Fracastoro’s Homocentrism 94 6 Amico on Celestial Motions 97 7 Osiander’s Theological Instructions 100 8 Melanchthon’s Approach to Nature 102 9 Rheticus’s Early “Realism” 107 10 The Elder Rheticus and Pierre de la Ramée against the Astronomical Axiom 109 11 Facts and Reasons in Astronomy according to Melanchthon and Reinhold 112 12 Reinhold’s Astronomy and Copernicus 115 13 Epistemological Remarks on Reinhold’s Terminology 119 14 Peucer’s Continuation of Reinhold’s Program 122 15 Wittich’s Combinatory Games 127 16 Brahe as the Culmination of the Wittenberg School 131 17 Beyond Selective Reading 135 Chapter 3 Beyond Computation: Copernican Ephemerists on Hypotheses, Astrology and Natural Philosophy 139 1 A Premise: Gemma Frisius as a Reader of Copernicus 139 2 Frisius’s Cosmological Commitment in Stadius’s Ephemerides 142 3 Stadius and Copernicus 145 4 Ephemerides and Astrology 147 5 Some Remarks on Rheticus’s Challenge to Pico 149 6 Giuntini’s Post-Copernican Astrology 151 7 Magini: Copernican Ephemerides, Astrology and Planetary Hypotheses 154 8 A Dispute on the Reliability of Ephemerides in Turin 157 9 Benedetti’s Defense of Post-Copernican Ephemerides and Astrology 160 10 Origanus’s Planetary System 164 11 Origanus’s Arguments in Favor of Terrestrial Motion 166 12 Conclusions 171 Chapter 4 A Finite and Infinite Sphere: Reinventing Cosmological Space 173 1 The Finite Infinity of the World Revised 174 2 Cusanus’s Two Infinities 176 3 Cusanus’s Role in the Copernican Debate 179 4 The Invention of Pythagorean Cosmology 182 5 Pythagoreanism and Cosmological Infinity according to Digges 185 6 The Infinity of Space and Worldly Finiteness as a Restoration of the Stoic Outlook 188 7 Benedetti’s Approach to the Copernican System 190 8 Stoicism in Germany: Pegel’s Cosmology 194 9 Bruno’s Pythagorean Correction of Copernicus’s Planetary Model 198 10 Bruno’s Defense of Cosmological Infinity 201 11 Homogeneity, Aether and Vicissitude according to Bruno 203 12 Kepler’s Anti-Brunian Pythagoreanism 206 13 Conclusions: Eclectic Concepts of Cosmological Space in the Renaissance 210 Chapter 5 A Ship-Like Earth: Reconceptualizing Motion 212 1 The Connection between Cosmology and Physics in Aristotle and Ptolemy 214 2 Copernicus’s Physical Considerations 218 3 Nominalist Sources on Terrestrial Motion 220 4 Calcagnini 224 5 Renaissance Variations on the Ship Metaphor 228 6 Bruno’s Vitalist Conception of Terrestrial Motion 231 7 Benedetti’s Archimedean Dynamics 234 8 Benedetti’s Post-Aristotelian Physics and Post-Copernican Astronomy 235 9 A New Alliance between Mechanics and Astronomy 238 10 Brahe’s Physical Considerations 240 11 Concluding Remarks 245 Chapter 6 A priori and a posteriori: Two Approaches to Heliocentrism 249 1 Mästlin’s a posteriori Astronomy 250 2 The Young Kepler and the Secret Order of the Cosmos 253 3 Kepler Defends and Expounds the Hypotheses of Copernicus 257 4 The Distances of the Planets: Mästlin’s Contribution 258 5 Mästlin: Finally We Have an a priori Astronomy 260 6 The Sun as the Universal Motive Force 263 7 The New Astronomy 265 8 Natural Arguments in Astronomy 266 9 Gravitas and vis animalis 269 10 Celestial Messages 272 11 First Reactions to the Celestial Novelties 278 12 Kepler’s Discourses with Galileo 281 Chapter 7 The Bible versus Pythagoras: The End of an Epoch 286 1 Condemnation 286 2 First Scriptural Reservations in the Protestant World 287 3 Rheticus and the Scriptures 289 4 Spina and Tolosani 293 5 Rothmann’s Opinion on the Scriptural Issue 296 6 Censorship in Tübingen 299 7 Scriptural Defense of Terrestrial Motion by Origanus 301 8 In Iob Commentaria 302 9 Bruno, Copernicus and the Bible 305 10 The Galileo Affair 308 11 Foscarini pro Copernico 312 12 Galileo to Christina of Lorraine 318 13 Foscarini to Bellarmino 319 14 Bellarminian Zeal 322 15 Campanellan Libertas 324 16 Campanella’s Cosmologia 326 17 Apologia pro Galilaeo 329 18 Conclusions: Accommodation and Convention 333 Chapter 8 Laughing at Phaeton’s Fall: A New Man 337 1 Holistic Views in the Astronomical-Astrological Culture of the Renaissance 338 2 The Ethical Question in Bruno: Philosophical Freedom and the Criticism of Religion 347 3 The Reformation of the Stars: A Metaphor for the Correction of Vices 350 4 A Copernican Sunrise 354 5 Beyond the Ethics of Balance 357 6 Heroic Frenzy 359 7 Actaeon: The Unity of Man and Nature 362 8 Bruno’s Polemics, Banishments and Excommunications 365 9 Cosmological and Anti-Epicurean Disputations at Helmstedt 367 10 Mencius against Epicurean Cosmology 369 11 Bruno’s Support of Atomistic Views 371 12 “New Astronomy” at Helmstedt 373 13 Liddel’s Teaching of Astronomy and Copernican Hypotheses 375 14 Hofmann’s Quarrel over Faith and Natural Knowledge 378 15 Franckenberg and the Spiritualist Reception of Bruno and Copernicus 380 16 Hill and the Epicurean Reception of Bruno and Copernicus 387 17 A New Imagery: Phaeton’s Fall 393 18 Conclusions: The New Humanity 397 Bibliography 402 Index of Names 440 Index of Places 447 In Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance, Pietro Daniel Omodeo presents a general overview of the reception of Copernicus's astronomical proposal from the years immediately preceding the publication of De revolutionibus (1543) to the Roman prohibition of heliocentric hypotheses in 1616. Relying on a detailed investigation of early modern sources, the author systematically examines a series of issues ranging from computation to epistemology, natural philosophy, theology and ethics. In addition to offering a pluralistic and interdisciplinary perspective on post-Copernican astronomy, the study goes beyond purely cosmological and geometrical issues and engages in a wide-ranging discussion of how Copernicus's legacy interacted with European culture and how his image and theories evolved as a result.-- Provided by Publisher In Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance, Pietro Daniel Omodeo assesses how Copernican astronomy interacted with European culture and examines topics ranging from computation to epistemology, natural philosophy, theology and ethics