QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

viewpoint, touched all aspects of western culture. 156
The first prominent renessance thinkers were humanists such as Marcilio Ficino (1433-1499) and
Pico de la Mirandola (1463-1494), who concentrated on Plato’s and Aristotle’s ideas. They also
promoted the belief in human capacity and uniqueness by interpreting the esoteric texts of
Hermes Trismegistus 157 , Orfeus, Pythagoras or Zoroaster. The absence of clear and generallyaccepted
criteria made it impossible to distinguish superstition from constructive speculation.
During the Renaissance, interest in astrology, alchemy, numerology and different occult
practices increased. These esoteric teachings and particularly the Corpus Hermeticum, Hermetic
texts dating back to the fourth century BC in which the role of the sun was emphasised, also
provided significant inspiration for the new cosmological way of thinking. 158
2.3. Birth of the Modern Scientific-technical Paradigm
Long-neglected questions concerning natural philosophy once again became the centre of
reflection at the beginning of the modern era. The well-defined period that began in 1543 with
Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium and ended with Newton’s Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica might be called the anni mirables, i.e. years that brought about
an enormous advance in men’s knowledge and technical skill, and in consequence, a radical
change in their views of life and of the world. The events that took place during this period
resulted in a revival of the various branches of natural science which ushered in the classical
period, and was the opening phase of an era that witnessed the mechanisation of the generallyaccepted
world-view. 159
One consequence of the new thinking was a re-evaluation of basic metaphysical presumptions
concerning the nature of reality. Both in Greek philosophy and in the science of the Middle
Ages, a basic tenet was that the universe was rational and intellectual. In general, it can be said
that right up to the beginning of the modern age, God was regarded as the foundation for the
155
Niiniluoto 1983, 43-45.
156
Nordin 1995, 230-236. Tarnas 1998, 191-224, 231.
157
Hermes Trismegistus was generally thought to have been an Egyptian priest who had inspired the Ancient
Greeks and who had foreseen the coming of Christ on earth. Trusted 1991, 35-36. The fundamental principles of
hermetic thought are the parallelism of microcosm and macrocosm, cosmic sympathy, and the conception of the
universe as a living being. Dijksterhuis 1986, 280.
158
Trusted 1991, 20-21, 35-38, 40-41.
159
Dijksterhuis 1986, 287.
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