The Genesis of the Copernican World (Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought)

This major work by the German philosopher Hans Blumenberg is a monumental rethinking of the significance of the Copernican revolution for our understanding of modernity. It provides an important corrective to the view of science as an autonomous enterprise and presents a new account of the history of interpretations of the significance of the heavens for man.Hans Blumenberg is Professor of Philosophy, emeritus, at the University of Munster in West Germany. This book is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthyThis work originally appeared in German as Die Genesis der kopernikanischen Welt, © 1975 Suhrkamp Verlag. Frankfurt am Main, Federal Republic of Germany. This Major Work By The German Philosopher Hans Blumenberg Is A Monumental Rethinking Of The Significance Of The Copernican Revolution For Our Understanding Of Modernity. It Provides An Important Corrective To The View Of Science As An Autonomous Enterprise And Presents A New Account Of The History Of Interpretations Of The Significance Of The Heavens For Man. Part I: The Ambiguous Meaning Of The Heavens -- Cosmos And Tragedy -- The Heavens As A Cave -- At The End Of The Observer In Repose -- The Nonsimultaneity Of The Simultaneous -- The View Of The Heavens And Self-consciousness -- Pure Intuition As An Anthropological Utopia -- The Heavens As Charming Landscape; Photography And Anthropomorphism -- Anachronism As A Need Founded In The Life-world: Realities And Simulation Part Ii: The Opening Up Of The Possibility Of A Copernicus -- The History Of What Led Up To The Event As Conditioning The History Of Its Effects -- Loosening Of The Systematic Structure Through Exhaustion Of What The System Can Accomplish -- Transformations Of Anthropocentrism -- Humanism's Idealization Of The Center Of The World -- The Intolerability Of Forgoing Truth In Favor Of Technique -- A Hypothetical Account Of The Way Copernicus Arrived At His Theory Part Iii: A Typology Of Copernicus's Early Influence -- The Theoretician As 'perpetrator' -- Consequences Of An Instance Of Well-meaning Mis-guidance: Osiander -- The Reformation And Copernicanism -- Perplexities Of Copernicus's Sole Student: Joachim Rheticus -- Not A Martyr For Copernicanism: Giordano Bruno -- Experiences With The Truth: Galileo Part Iv: The Heavens Stand Still And Time Goes On -- How The Movement Of The Heavens Was Indispensable For The Ancient Concept Of Time -- How Antiquity's Concept Of Time Did Not Fit In The Middle Ages -- The Perfection Of The Earth As A New Precondition For The Old Concept Of Time -- The Deformation Of The Earth And Absolute Time Part V: The Copernican Comparative -- Perspective As The Guide For Cosmological Expansion -- The Copernican System As A Prototypical Supersystem -- A Retrospect On Lambert's Universe, Form The Twentieth Century -- Competing Proposals For The System Of Systems: Kant And Lambert -- What Is Copernican In Kant's Turning? Part Vi: Vision In The Copernican World -- How Horizons Of Visibility Are Conditioned By Views Of Man -- The Proclamation Of The New Stars, And One Single Person's Reasons For Believing It -- The Lack Of A 'paratheory' To Explain Resistance To The Telescope -- Reflexive Telescopics And Geotropic Astronautics. Hans Blumenberg ; Translated By Robert M. Wallace. Translation Of: Die Genesis Der Kopernikanischen Welt. Includes Bibliographies And Index.

This major work by the German philosopher Hans Blumenberg is a monumental rethinking of the significance of the Copernican revolution for our understanding of modernity. It provides an important corrective to the view of science as an autonomous enterprise and presents a new account of the history of interpretations of the significance of the heavens for man.Hans Blumenberg is Professor of Philosophy, emeritus, at the University of Munster in West Germany. This book is included in the series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought, edited by Thomas McCarthy