Elementos fundamentais da cosmologia de Giordano Bruno

Abstract

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) wasn an Italian philosopher who dealt in subjects that were not yet considered relevant in the second half of the century, in particular the cosmological theme, which was not in crisis already. Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentrism was unconditionally accepted in the academic environment, there was no explicit debate about the description of the world. In dealing with the cosmological theme Bruno introduces the Copernican heliocentrism thesis, as a reference, to oppose the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentric model. The cosmological theme permeates his body of work, from the earliest writings like The Supper of Ashes, published in 1582 written in Italian, considered to be the work that introduces the question; until one of the last texts, L'immenso e gli innumerevoli published in 1591, in Latin and thus directed to the academic environment. Bruno’s cosmological model, although referring to Copernicus, incorporating the thesis that the Earth is not at the center of the universe but the Sun, can not be considered Copernican because it defends the universe as being infinite and populated by innumerable worlds, also disregarding the idea of a center, descriptions that are not dealt with by Copernicus. In order to justify his conception of the world and of the universe, Bruno elaborates a discussion on the Aristotelian principles, matter and form, intending to present a new base from by which the nature is understood and that can support the thesis that the universe is infinite and populated with innumerable worlds.