Philosophy: epistemology and theory of knowledge Books

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Book SynopsisDie Analytische Einführung in die Erkenntnistheorie gehört in die Reihe der „analytischen Einführungen“ in die Disziplinen der Philosophie. Das Buch führt in die wichtigsten Grundfragen und -probleme der Erkenntnistheorie ein und enthält eine ausführliche Darstellung von Positionen und Argumenten aus der gegenwärtigen Diskussion. Es soll dem Leser dabei als kritische Orientierungshilfe dienen. Behandelt werden u.a. die erkenntnistheoretischen Grundbegriffe (Überzeugung, Wahrheit, Wissen und Rechtfertigung) sowie unterschiedliche Antworten auf die Fragen nach der Struktur, dem Umfang und den Quellen menschlichen Wissens. Die spezifischen Wissensarten kommen ausführlich zur Sprache (neben der Wahrnehmung insbesondere apriorisches Wissen, Erinnerung, Selbstwissen sowie sozialer Wissenstransfer und nicht-deduktive Schlussverfahren). Ein besonderes Augenmerk wird auf die Rolle der Erkenntnistheorie innerhalb der Philosophie sowie ihr Verhältnis zu den Einzelwissenschaften gelegt.

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Book SynopsisThe aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive guide to the metaphysics of Bohmian mechanics. Bohmian mechanics is a quantum theory that describes the motion of particles following trajectories that are determined by the quantum wave-function. The key question that the theory has to face relates to the ontological interpretation of the quantum wave-function. The main debate has mostly centered around two opposing views, wave-function realism on the one hand, and the nomological view on the other hand. The supporters of the former believe that the wave-function is a physical field living in a high-dimensional space; the supporters of the latter regard the wave-function as just an entity that appears in the laws of nature and lacks physical status. This monograph discusses both views open-mindedly, illuminating their tacit problems and providing new insight into how they can be overcome. Moreover, it discusses the structuralist view, which is often neglected and which can be regarded as a reconciliation of the two main opposing camps.

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Book SynopsisPhysicalism is a metaphysical thesis easily presented in slogan form – there is nothing over and above the physical – but notoriously difficult to formulate precisely. Understanding physicalism combines insights from contemporary philosophy of mind and metaphysics to present a new account of physical properties and metaphysical dependence and, on this foundation, develop a more rigorous and illuminating formulation of the thesis of physicalism

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Book SynopsisA number of well-developed theories shed light on the question, under what circumstances our beliefs enjoy epistemic justification. Yet, comparatively little is known about epistemic defeat—when new information causes the loss of epistemic justification. This book proposes and defends a detailed account of epistemic defeaters. The main kinds of defeaters are analyzed in detail and integrated into a general framework that aims to explain how beliefs lose justification. It is argued that defeaters introduce incompatibilities into a noetic system and thereby prompt a structured re-evaluation process that makes a justified reinstatement of the defeated belief impossible. The account is then applied to the topic of disagreement, where it is used in an argument for conciliationism, as well as a new explanation for higher-order defeat. Throughout the book, the notion of defeat is the center of attention, while a number of new issues are discussed at the intersections of defeat and justification. Specifically, new problems are raised for broadly internalist accounts of defeat, a fully descriptive reliabilist account of defeat is provided, and the case for normative defeat is revisited.

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Book SynopsisClaims that science may becoming 'self-fulfilling' through its impact on objects of study have recently risen to prominence. Despite radical statements about the supposed consequences of such accounts, however, the central notion of scientific self-fulfillment has remained obscure, leading to skewed views of its actual prevalence and significance. Self-Fulfilling Science illuminates this underexplored phenomenon, drawing on insights from philosophy of science to address questions of its conceptualization, prevalence, and significance. The book critically engages with the popular notion that economic theories of homo economicus exhibit self-fulfillment, and explores its relevance to various metaphysical, ethical, and epistemic issues. Extreme claims of fundamental incompatibility with our usual notions of scientific success are ill-founded. Instead, self-fulfillment’s true epistemic significance lies in more local, nuanced philosophical issues such as theory evaluation and the thesis of underdetermination. In presenting a novel framework, this book facilitates deeper engagement with the developing field of self-fulfilling science, and is of interest to philosophers of science, social scientists, and social constructionists.

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Book SynopsisOur ability to attribute mental states to others ("to mentalize") has been the subject of philosophical and psychological studies for a very long time, yet the role of language acquisition in the development of our mentalizing abilities has been largely understudied. This book addresses this gap in the philosophical literature. The book presents an account of how false belief reasoning is impacted by language acquisition, and it does so by placing it in the larger context of the issue, how language impacts cognition in general. The work provides the reader with detailed and critical literature reviews, and draws on them to argue that language acquisition helps false belief reasoning by boosting the ability to create schemata that facilitate processing of information in some social contexts. According to this framework, it is a combination of syntactic clues and cultural narratives that helps the child to solve the classic false belief task. The book provides a novel, original account of how language helps false belief reasoning, while also giving the reader a broad, precise and well-documented picture of the debate around some of the most fundamental issues in social cognition.

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Book SynopsisOur ability to understand others is one of the most central parts of human life, but explaining how this ability develops remains a controversial issue, exercising psychologists and philosophers alike. Within this literature the Paradox of False Belief Understanding remains one of the main open challenges. Based on an up to date overview of the empirical and theoretical literature, this book highlights the significance of this paradox for our understanding of the development of social cognition and provides a new explanation of it in the form of the Situational Mental File Account. Central features of the account are, firstly, identitfying three distinct stages in the development of belief understanding and, secondly, elaborating the role of both cognitive and situational factors as well as their interaction in the development of belief understanding. This account is also applied to the related phenomenon of pretend play, demonstrating the potential for a wider application of the account. This account generates both new empirical predications and a framework for further theoretical work, thereby providing a fruitful ground for further interdisciplinary research in this area.

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Book SynopsisRecent findings about the capabilities of smart animals such as corvids or octopi and novel types of artificial intelligence (AI), from social robots to cognitive assistants, are provoking the demand for new answers for meaningful comparison with other kinds of intelligence. This book fills this need by proposing a universal theory of intelligence which is based on causal learning as the central theme of intelligence. The goal is not just to describe, but mainly to explain queries like why one kind of intelligence is more intelligent than another, whatsoever the intelligence. Shiny terms like "strong AI," "superintelligence," "singularity" or "artificial general intelligence" that have been coined by a Babylonian confusion of tongues are clarified on the way.

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Book SynopsisOne the most interesting debates in moral philosophy revolves around the significance of empirical moral psychology for moral philosophy. Genealogical arguments that rely on empirical findings about the origins of moral beliefs, so-called debunking arguments, take center stage in this debate. Looking at debunking arguments based on evidence from evolutionary moral psychology, experimental ethics and neuroscience, this book explores what ethicists can learn from the science of morality, and what they cannot. Among other things, the book offers a new take on the deontology/utilitarianism debate, discusses the usefulness of experiments in ethics, investigates whether morality should be thought of as a problem-solving device, shows how debunking arguments can tell us something about the structure of philosophical debate, and argues that debunking arguments lead to both moral and prudential skepticism. Presenting a new picture of the relationship between empirical moral psychology and moral philosophy, this book is essential reading for moral philosophers and moral psychologists alike.

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Book SynopsisIn this volume, the author investigates and argues for, a particular answer to the question: What is the right way to logically analyze modalities from natural language within formal languages? The answer is: by formalizing modal expressions in terms of predicates. But, as in the case of truth, the most intuitive modal principles lead to paradox once the modal notions are conceived as predicates.The book discusses the philosophical interpretation of these modal paradoxes and argues that any satisfactory approach to modality will have to face the paradoxes independently of the grammatical category of the modal notion. By systematizing modal principles with respect to their joint consistency and inconsistency, Stern provides an overview of the options and limitations of the predicate approach to modality that may serve as a useful starting point for future work on predicate approaches to modality. Stern also develops a general strategy for constructing philosophically attractive theories of modal notions conceived as predicates. The idea is to characterize the modal predicate by appeal to its interaction with the truth predicate. This strategy is put to use by developing the modal theories Modal Friedman-Sheard and Modal Kripke-Feferman.Trade Review“The book can be considered a deep analysis of modal paradoxes, providing an overview of limitations of the predicate modality treatment. It is almost self-contained and presents a good starting point in research of the axiomatic theories of truth.” (Branislav Boričić, Mathematical Reviews, May 2017)Table of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Modality and Logic.- Chapter 3. Consistencies and Inconsistencies in Modal Logic.- Chapter 4. Modality and Axiomatic Theories of Truth.- Chapter 5. Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a philosophical approach to religion that acknowledges both the diversity of religions and the many and varied dimensions of the religious life. Rather than restricting itself to Christian theism, it covers a wide range of religious traditions, examining their beliefs in the context of the actual practice of the religious life. After outlining the aims of religion, the book focuses on claims to knowledge. What kinds of knowledge do religions purport to offer? In what idiom is it couched? From what sources do devotees draw their claims to knowledge? Are these sources reliable? Rather than trying to settle age-old questions about religious belief, the book offers its readers a set of criteria with which they can make informed decisions in matters of faith.Trade Review“This book is all about that philosophy and the knowledge behind religion. … This book is a good book on basic religious philosophy. While not dealing with any one particular religion, it finds basic principles on what makes a religion.” (Justin Dilliplane, Resolved for Christ, resolvedfc.blogspot.de, January, 2018)Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION.- 1. Religions, Philosophy, and Knowledge.- Part One: Religious Language and Thought.- 2. Religious Language.- 3. Modes of Thought.- 4. Theology / Dharmatology.- PART TWO: THE AIMS OF RELIGION.- 5. A Sacred Order.- 6. Individual Salvation.- 7. Knowledge and Skill.- 8. Embodied Knowledge.- PART THREE: MODES OF KNOWING.- MODE 1: INDICES, SYMBOLS, ICONS.- 9. Divination.- 10. Dreams and Visions.- MODE 2: KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE.- 11. Mysticism and Knowledge.- 12. Testing Mystical Knowledge.- 13. Self-Authentication.- MODE 3: DISCURSIVE REASON.- 14. Ontological Arguments.- 15. Cosmological Arguments.- 16. Teleological (Design) Arguments.- 17. The Role of Reason.- MODE 4: TESTIMONY (AUTHORITY).- 18. Possession and Prophecy.- 19. Revelation and Faith.- 20. Self-Authentication, Again.- Conclusion.- 21. Assessing Religious Beliefs.

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Book SynopsisMartin Heideggers „Sein und Zeit“ zählt zu den wichtigsten Werken des 20. Jahrhunderts und übt bis heute großen Einfluss aus. Der vorliegende Kommentar bietet eine systematische Interpretation dieses Werks mit Blick auf das Gesamtprojekt, von dem Heidegger nur die ersten beiden der geplanten sechs Abschnitte verwirklichte. Mit Bezug auf den aktuellen Forschungsstand wird Heideggers eigentümliche Terminologie allgemeinverständlich erklärt und so die systematische Auseinandersetzung mit den Kernthesen erleichtert. Der Kommentar macht dabei einerseits die ungeminderte Relevanz des Projekts von „Sein und Zeit“ verständlich und weist andererseits auf problematische (z.B. politische) Tendenzen im Text hin.Table of ContentsDanksagung.- 1 Einführung.- 2 Die Seinsfrage (§§ 1–4).- 3 Die Methode der Untersuchung (§§ 5–8).- 4 Dasein als In-der-Welt-sein (§§ 9–13).- 5 Die Weltlichkeit der Welt (§§ 14–24).- 6 Dasein als Mitsein und Selbstsein (§§ 25–27).- 7 Befindlichkeit, Verstehen, Rede, Verfallen (§§ 28–38).- 8 Angst, Sorge, Realität, Wahrheit (§§ 39–44).- 9 Das Ganzsein des Daseins und das Sein zum Tode (§§ 45–53).- 10 Der Ruf des Gewissens und das ursprüngliche Schuldigsein (§§ 54–60).- 11 Das eigentliche Selbstsein und die Zeitlichkeit (§§ 61–66).- 12 Die Zeitlichkeit der Alltäglichkeit (§§ 67–71).- 13 Die Geschichtlichkeit des Daseins (§§ 72–77).- 14 Zeitlichkeit und Innerzeitigkeit (§§ 78–83).- 15 Schlussbetrachtung.- Glossar altgriechischer Stellen.- Zitierte und weiterführende Literatur.- Register.

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Book SynopsisPlato's doctrine of the soul, its immaterial nature, its parts or faculties, and its fate after death (and before birth) came to have an enormous influence on the great religious traditions that sprang up in late antiquity, beginning with Judaism (in the person of Philo of Alexandria), and continuing with Christianity, from St. Paul on through the Alexandrian and Cappadocian Fathers to Byzantium, and finally with Islamic thinkers from Al-kindi on. This volume, while not aspiring to completeness, attempts to provide insights into how members of each of these traditions adapted Platonist doctrines to their own particular needs, with varying degrees of creativity.

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Book SynopsisThis work - the first full-length account of its theme in English - identifies Kant’s doctrine of inner sense as a central, and problematic, element within the ‘architectonic of pure reason’ of the first Critique. Its exegesis exposes two, variant construals of the character and capacities of inner sense: the first, ‘positive’ construal functions in Kant’s account of the nature of knowledge in the Transcendental Analytic, while the second, ‘negative’ construal functions in Kant’s account of the limits of knowledge in the Transcendental Dialectic. Green shows how this variance underlies, and destabilizes, the basic intention of Kant’s theoretical philosophy, to give an account of both the nature, and the limits, of cognition. The work complements detailed analysis with an exhaustive review of English, French, and German scholarship on the doctrine. An Appendix on Kant’s recently discovered ‘Vom inneren Sinne’ fragment evinces Kant’s continued concern with this doctrine, and a Conclusion intimates the importance of Fichte’s and Schelling’s identification of the ‘aporia of inner sense’ to the subsequent development of transcendental idealism.Trade Review"The thesis – very profound, very learned, and detailed -- of Professor Green recommends itself. It is obvious that we are introduced to an authentically speculative temperament, and to an extremely well-trained philosopher and scholar, who manifests exceptional gifts of both reflection and analysis. His work attests to an exhaustive knowledge of Kant (and, elsewhere, of Fichte, and therefore of German idealism). The author does not spare his reader; he is analytical, elaborate, and remains constantly in close proximity to the text, indeed with a remarkable mastery. The analytical attitude chosen by Professor Green ensures the solidity of his exposition." Xavier Tilliette (review of Garth Green's thesis as member examining committee, 2002)Table of ContentsVolume Foreword 1. Introduction; An Aporia of Inner Sense? 2. The Self-Knowledge of Reason; The Transcendental Topic and The Atopicality of Time I. Critique of Pure Reason; A General Introduction II. Materialiter sic Dicta i. Per Modum Recipientis ii. Situs corporis iii. Situs temporis III. Idealiter sic Dicta i. Form and Function ii. Self-consciousness and Self-cognition a. A First Attempt at Deduction b. A Second Attempt at Deduction iii. An Analytic of (Synthetic) Principles iv. A Problematic Idealism v. Seelenlehre, Weltwissenschaft, Gotteserkenntnis 3. Conclusion; The Antinomy Between Theory of Knowledge and Critique of Metaphysics in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason 4. Appendix; The Aporia of Inner Sense and The Vom Inneren Sinne Fragment: A Principle for the Development of Transcendental Philosophy? Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThis work - the first full-length account of its theme in English - identifies Kant's doctrine of inner sense as a central, and problematic, element within the 'architectonic of pure reason' of the first Critique. Its exegesis exposes two, variant construals of the character and capacities of inner sense: the first, 'positive' construal functions in Kant's account of the nature of knowledge in the Transcendental Analytic, while the second, 'negative' construal functions in Kant's account of the limits of knowledge in the Transcendental Dialectic. Green shows how this variance underlies, and destabilizes, the basic intention of Kant's theoretical philosophy, to give an account of both the nature, and the limits, of cognition. The work complements detailed analysis with an exhaustive review of English, French, and German scholarship on the doctrine. An Appendix on Kant's recently discovered 'Vom inneren Sinne' fragment evinces Kant's continued concern with this doctrine, and a Conclusion intimates the importance of Fichte's and Schelling's identification of the 'aporia of inner sense' to the subsequent development of transcendental idealism.Trade Review"The thesis - very profound, very learned, and detailed -- of Professor Green recommends itself. It is obvious that we are introduced to an authentically speculative temperament, and to an extremely well-trained philosopher and scholar, who manifests exceptional gifts of both reflection and analysis. His work attests to an exhaustive knowledge of Kant (and, elsewhere, of Fichte, and therefore of German idealism). The author does not spare his reader; he is analytical, elaborate, and remains constantly in close proximity to the text, indeed with a remarkable mastery. The analytical attitude chosen by Professor Green ensures the solidity of his exposition." Xavier Tilliette (review of Garth Green's thesis as member examining committee, 2002)

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Book SynopsisIn 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.     Trade Review'Wer an der Astronomiegeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit interessiert ist, wird dieses Opus gerne zur Hand nehmen.' Günther Oestmann, in: Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, 13, p. 321-322. Massimo Bucciantini, in Il Sole 24 Ore, 4 Ottobre 2015: 'Pietro Daniel Omodeo indaga settant'anni di cosmologia e astronomia a cavallo di due secoli decisivi per le sorti dell'umanità, dove quei saperi sono inseparabili dalle filosofie e dalle teologie del loro tempo. E procede con passo spedito, ma ben equipaggiato e ben allenato ai lunghi viaggi, facendoci conoscere non solo gli attori principali ma anche i tanti personaggi spesso a torto considerati minori, alcuni dei quali pochissimo noti in Italia.' (Pietro Daniel Omodeo investigates 70 years of cosmology and astronomy between two centuries that were crucial for the fate of humanity, years when those sciences were inseparable from philosophy and theology. He proceeds fluently, ‘well equipped’ and ‘well used’ to long journeys by getting us acquainted to the main and to the less known characters, some of them not enough known in Italy.) 'Cliò che subito colpisce è l'attenzione alla pluralità che scaturisce dai tanti modi in cui venne letto Copernico. Sono le molteplici interpretazioni a rendere peculiare questo lavoro.' (What’s remarkable is the attention to a pluralistic perspective emerging from all the different ways in which Copernicus was read. The multiple interpretations make this work special.) 'Attraverso l'esame di un numero impressionante di testi Omodeo ci restituisce la fotografia di un'epoca animata da un susseguirsi interminabile di discussioni filosofiche e controversie scientifiche.' (By examining an impressive number of texts, Omodeo gives us a picture of an age animated by a succession of never-ending philosophical discussions and scientific disputes.) 'Trai capitoli più interessanti del libro ci sono quelli dedicati ai matematici luterani allievi di Filippo Melantone.' (The chapters devoted to the Lutheran mathematicians, alumni of Filippo Melantone are among the most interesting ones.) 'Siamo di fronte a un libro per lettori esigenti che, non accontentandosi delle troppo lineari ricostruzioni manualistiche, sono disposti a inoltrarsi - e con gusto a perdersi - nell'intricata selva dei molteplici e immaginifici universi che popolano la seconda metà del Cinquecento e i primi decenni del Seicento.' (This is a book for demanding readers, who are not satisfied by the too simple/linear reconstructions of usual handbooks, and instead are willing to dive in – and be happily lost in – the intricate wood of the multiplex imaginative universes of the second half of the sixteenth century and early seventeenth century.)Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix List of Illustrations xi List of Abbreviations of Journals and Reference Books xii Introduction 1 1 Copernicus between 1514 and 1616: An Overview 11 1 Copernicus’s Connection 11 2 Platonizing Humanists 15 3 Rheticus and the Printing of De revolutionibus 19 4 The Network of German Mathematicians 23 5 Italy 25 6 France 31 7 Spain and Flanders 35 8 England and Scotland 37 9 Central European Circles and Courts 43 10 The Physical-Cosmological Turn 48 11 Heliocentrism between Two Centuries: Kepler and Galileo 51 12 Geo-Heliocentrism and Copernican Hypotheses 53 13 The Difficult Reconciliation between Copernicus and the Sacred Scripture 56 14 Copernicus before and after 1616 59 15 Summary of the Main Lines of the Early Reception of Copernicus 63 2 Astronomy at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Epistemology 66 1 A Split Reception of Copernicus 66 2 Copernicus Presents Himself as a Mathematician 70 3 Cosmology and Mathematics in Copernicus’s Commentariolus 71 4 A Clash of Authorities: Averroist Criticism of Mathematical Astronomy 76 5 Fracastoro’s Homocentrism 79 6 Amico on Celestial Motions 82 7 Osiander’s Theological Instructions 85 8 Melanchthon’s Approach to Nature 87 9 Rheticus’s Early “Realism” 92 10 The Elder Rheticus and Pierre de la Ramée against the Astronomical Axiom 94 11 Facts and Reasons in Astronomy according to Melanchthon and Reinhold 97 12 Reinhold’s Astronomy and Copernicus 100 13 Epistemological Remarks on Reinhold’s Terminology 104 14 Peucer’s Continuation of Reinhold’s Program 107 15 Wittich’s Combinatory Games 112 16 Brahe as the Culmination of the Wittenberg School 116 17 Beyond Selective Reading 120 3 Beyond Computation: Copernican Ephemerists on Hypotheses, Astrology and Natural Philosophy 124 1 A Premise: Gemma Frisius as a Reader of Copernicus 124 2 Frisius’s Cosmological Commitment in Stadius’s Ephemerides 127 3 Stadius and Copernicus 130 4 Ephemerides and Astrology 132 5 Some Remarks on Rheticus’s Challenge to Pico 134 6 Giuntini’s Post-Copernican Astrology 136 7 Magini: Copernican Ephemerides, Astrology and Planetary Hypotheses 139 8 A Dispute on the Reliability of Ephemerides in Turin 142 9 Benedetti’s Defense of Post-Copernican Ephemerides and Astrology 145 10 Origanus’s Planetary System 149 11 Origanus’s Arguments in Favor of Terrestrial Motion 151 12 Conclusions 156 4 A Finite and Infinite Sphere: Reinventing Cosmological Space 158 1 The Finite Infinity of the World Revised 159 2 Cusanus’s Two Infinities 161 3 Cusanus’s Role in the Copernican Debate 164 4 The Invention of the Pythagorean Cosmology 167 5 Pythagoreanism and Cosmological Infinity according to Digges 170 6 The Infinity of Space and Worldly Finiteness as a Restoration of the Stoic Outlook 173 7 Benedetti’s Approach to the Copernican System 175 8 Stoicism in Germany: Pegel’s Cosmology 179 9 Bruno’s Pythagorean Correction of Copernicus’s Planetary Model 183 10 Bruno’s Defense of Cosmological Infinity 186 11 Homogeneity, Aether and Vicissitude according to Bruno 188 12 Kepler’s Anti-Brunian Pythagoreanism 191 13 Conclusions: Eclectic Concepts of Cosmological Space in the Renaissance 195 5 A Ship-Like Earth: Reconceptualizing Motion 197 1 The Connection between Cosmology and Physics in Aristotle and Ptolemy 199 2 Copernicus’s Physical Considerations 203 3 Nominalist Sources on Terrestrial Motion 205 4 Calcagnini 209 5 Renaissance Variations on the Ship Metaphor 213 6 Bruno’s Vitalist Conception of Terrestrial Motion 216 7 Benedetti’s Archimedean Dynamics 219 8 Benedetti’s Post-Aristotelian Physics and Post-Copernican Astronomy 220 9 A New Alliance between Mechanics and Astronomy 223 10 Brahe’s Physical Considerations 225 11 Concluding Remarks 230 6 A priori and a posteriori: Two Approaches to Heliocentrism 234 1 Mästlin’s a posteriori Astronomy 235 2 The Young Kepler and the Secret Order of the Cosmos 238 3 Kepler Defends and Expounds the Hypotheses of Copernicus 242 4 The Distances of the Planets: Mästlin’s Contribution 243 5 Mästlin: Finally We Have an a priori Astronomy 245 6 The Sun as the Universal Motive Force 248 7 The New Astronomy 250 8 Natural Arguments in Astronomy 251 9 Gravitas and vis animalis 254 10 Celestial Messages 257 11 First Reactions to the Celestial Novelties 263 12 Kepler’s Discourses with Galilei 266 7 The Bible versus Pythagoras: The End of an Epoch 271 1 Condemnation 271 2 First Scriptural Reservations in the Protestant World 272 3 Rheticus and the Scriptures 274 4 Spina and Tolosani 278 5 Rothmann’s Opinion on the Scriptural Issue 281 6 Censorship in Tübingen 284 7 Scriptural Defense of Terrestrial Motion by Origanus 286 8 In Iob Commentaria 287 9 Bruno, Copernicus and the Bible 290 10 The Galileo Affaire 293 11 Foscarini pro Copernico 297 12 Galilei to Christina of Lorraine 303 13 Foscarini to Bellarmino 304 14 Bellarminian Zeal 307 15 Campanellan Libertas 309 16 Campanella’s Cosmologia 311 17 Apologia pro Galilaeo 314 18 Conclusions: Accommodation and Convention 318 8 Laughing at Phaeton’s Fall: A New Man 322 1 Holistic Views in the Astronomical-Astrological Culture of the Renaissance 323 2 The Ethical Question in Bruno: Philosophical Freedom and the Criticism of Religion 332 3 The Reformation of the Stars: a Metaphor for the Correction of Vices 335 4 A Copernican Sunrise 339 5 Beyond the Ethics of Balance 342 6 Heroic Frenzy 344 7 Actaeon: The Unity of Man and Nature 347 8 Bruno’s Polemics, Banishments and Excommunications 350 9 Cosmological and Anti-Epicurean Disputations at Helmstedt 352 10 Mencius against Epicurean Cosmology 354 11 Bruno’s Support of Atomistic Views 356 12 “New Astronomy” at Helmstedt 358 13 Liddel’s Teaching of Astronomy and Copernican Hypotheses 360 14 Hofmann’s Quarrel over Faith and Natural Knowledge 363 15 Franckenberg and the Spiritualist Reception of Bruno and Copernicus 365 16 Hill and the Epicurean Reception of Bruno and Copernicus 372 17 A New Imagery: Phaeton’s Fall 378 18 Conclusions: The New Humanity 382 Bibliography 387 Index of Names 425 Index of Places 432

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