Product Description

The Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno was a notable supporter of the new science that arose during his lifetime; his role in its development has been debated ever since the early seventeenth century. Hilary Gatti here reevaluates Bruno's contribution to the scientific revolution, in the process challenging the view that now dominates Bruno criticism among English-language scholars. This argument, associated with the work of Frances Yates, holds that early modern science was impregnated with and shaped by Hermetic and occult traditions, and has led scholars to view Bruno primarily as a magus.

Gatti reinstates Bruno as a scientific thinker and occasional investigator of considerable significance and power whose work participates in the excitement aroused by the new science and its methods at the end of the sixteenth century. Her original research emphasizes the importance of Bruno's links to the magnetic philosophers, from Ficino to Gilbert; Bruno's reading and extension of Copernicus's work on the motions of the earth; the importance of Bruno's mathematics; and his work on the art of memory seen as a picture logic, which she examines in the light of the crises of visualization in present-day science. She concludes by emphasizing Bruno's ethics of scientific discovery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #920011 in Books
• Published on: 2002-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From Library Journal
Ever since Frances Yates's Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964), Bruno has been presented in English-language scholarly books as more a hermetic philosopher or magician than a forerunner of modern science. With this book, Gatti, a professor at the Universita di Roma "La Sapienza," brings Bruno back to the realm of modern science by showing that, like many early scientists, he was in both worlds. Gatti also shows that Bruno was a strong proponent for the emerging new way of examining the world. She does so by closely examining Bruno's mathematical approach to cosmology and comparing it with the approach of other natural philosophers such as Corpernicus and Kepler. She also reviews his contribution to mathematics and the role he felt it had in understanding the world. Concluding with a look at Bruno's writings on how to approach knowledge, Gatti shows how his concepts would later be called science. This insightful academic work helps recast Bruno in a significant role in the history of science. Recommended.?Eric D. Albright, Duke Medical Ctr. Lib., Durham, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Excellent
Hillary Gatti gets to heart of Giordano Bruno and his work and philosophy. It is a wonderful honour to the family and his decendants.