QUANTUM METAPHYSICS - E-thesis

inorganic world was manifested in the countless different forms of the plant and animal world
and was given shape in the spiritual activities of the human being. Bruno viewed the Christian
faith as having become alienated from this divine unity and a direct connection with the sacred
forces that influenced nature. People no longer understood that the Creator and Creation were a
single entity and that divinity was also present in all particular things. They did not see the
hidden connections between lifeless and living phenomena. Knowledge of this multiplicity of
connections would have offered the possibility of influencing surrounding events. 171
In his propagation for the understanding and exploitation of magical forces, Bruno did not
consider himself to be a heretic but a reformer. He was, however, expelled from the Dominican
order in 1576, and then travelled in Europe and in England giving lectures on a ‘purer’ Christian
faith and the Copernican system. As well as not hesitating to turn the Thomistic method against
itself by undermining the foundations of much Christian dogma, Bruno also expounded bold and
far-reaching interpretations of the Copernican system. He understood that the new astronomy
repudiated qualitative differences between earthly and celestial phenomena. The sun did not have
to be the centre of the universe. It was just a normal star in the infinity of space, which was full
of an innumerable quantity of worlds similar to our own. Intelligent life was present everywhere
in the universe which was built up of atoms, physical and spiritual. 172
Bruno’s concept of a single identical substance existing everywhere with no differences in its
quality, only in its quantity and geometrical form, can be seen as a necessary prerequisite for
Newton’s later being able to suppose that the same force kept the moon in the sky and made an
apple fall to the ground. Bruno also saw, as Galileo did at a later date, that bodies did not require
any kind of “first mover”, but that movement was part of their nature. He linked motion to God,
who was immanent in each body and caused changes through them. Bruno returned to Italy in
1592. In the turmoil of the Counter-Reformation, he was soon in conflict with the Inquisition.
Following years of interrogation for suspected theological heresy, he was burnt at the stake in
1600. At the same time, the heliocentric world-view that Bruno had so strongly supported was
shown to be a dangerous one. 173
Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler
171
Aaltola 1999, 170. Kenny 1998, 183. For Bruno’s ideas about the implications of Copernicanism and
concerning magic, see Bruno 1998.
172
Kenny 1998, 183. Bruno’s idea of human being as a conscious immortal atom mirroring in itself the entire
universe can be seen as a precursor to Leibniz’ monadology. Nordin 1995, 259.
173
Collingwood 1960, 98-100. Trusted 1991, 37-41. Tarnas 1996, 253, 266.
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