Space, Imagination and the Cosmos from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period

294 Pages·2018·3.83 MB·English

by  Frederik A. Bakker

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 48
Frederik A. Bakker
Delphine Bellis
Carla Rita Palmerino Editors
Space, Imagination
and the Cosmos from
Antiquity to the Early
Modern Period
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Volume 48
Series Editor
Stephen Gaukroger, University of Sydney, Australia
Advisory Board
Rachel Ankeny, University of Adelaide, Australia
Peter Anstey, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Steven French, University of Leeds, UK
Ofer Gal, University of Sydney, Australia
Clemency Montelle, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Nicholas Rasmussen, University of New South Wales, Australia
John Schuster, University of Sydney/Campion College, Australia
Koen Vermeir, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
Richard Yeo, Griffith University, Australia
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/5671
Frederik A. Bakker • Delphine Bellis
Carla Rita Palmerino
Editors
Space, Imagination
and the Cosmos
from Antiquity to the Early
Modern Period
Editors
Frederik A. Bakker Delphine Bellis
Center for the History of Philosophy and Department of Philosophy
Science Paul Valéry University
Radboud University Montpellier, France
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Carla Rita Palmerino
Center for the History of Philosophy and
Science
Radboud University
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
ISSN 0929-6425 ISSN 2215-1958 (electronic)
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
ISBN 978-3-030-02764-3 ISBN 978-3-030-02765-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02765-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965221
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018, corrected publication 2019
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Acknowledgments
This volume derives from an international conference organized by Frederik Bakker,
Delphine Bellis, and Carla Rita Palmerino and held at Radboud University,
Nijmegen, on June 9–10, 2016. The event was funded by the Netherlands
Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) through Delphine Bellis’ Veni grant
(275-20-042) and by the International Office of Radboud University.
We would also like to acknowledge the financial support we received for the
publication of this book through the translation subsidy fund of the Faculty of
Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies at Radboud University, as well as
through the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) with Delphine Bellis’ postdoc-
toral project (12O6516N).
We would like to express our gratitude to Bill Duba for the translation into
English of Olivier Ribordy’s chapter, to Hester van den Elzen for preparing the
index, and to Anke Timmermann (A T Scriptorium) for the particular care and pro-
ficiency with which she conducted the copy-editing of the volume.
v
Contents
1 Space, Imagination and the Cosmos, from Antiquity
to the Early Modern Period: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Frederik A. Bakker, Delphine Bellis, and Carla Rita Palmerino
2 Aristotle’s Account of Place in Physics 4:
Some Puzzles and Some Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Keimpe Algra
3 The End of Epicurean Infinity: Critical Reflections
on the Epicurean Infinite Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Frederik A. Bakker
4 Space and Movement in Medieval Thought:
The Angelological Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Tiziana Suarez-Nani
5 Mathematical and Metaphysical Space
in the Early Fourteenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
William O. Duba
6 Space, Imagination, and Numbers in John Wyclif’s
Mathematical Theology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Aurélien Robert
7 Francisco Suárez and Francesco Patrizi:
Metaphysical Investigations on Place and Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Olivier Ribordy
8 Giordano Bruno’s Concept of Space:
Cosmological and Theological Aspects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Miguel Á. Granada
vii
viii Contents
9 Libert Froidmont’s Conception and Imagination of Space
in Three Early Works: Peregrinatio cœlestis (1616),
De cometa (1618), Meteorologica (1627) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Isabelle Pantin
10 Questioning Fludd, Kepler and Galileo:
Mersenne’s Harmonious Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Natacha Fabbri
11 Imaginary Spaces and Cosmological Issues
in Gassendi’s Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Delphine Bellis
12 Space, Imagination and the Cosmos
in the Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Carla Rita Palmerino
Correction to: The End of Epicurean Infinity:
Critical Reflections on the Epicurean Infinite Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C1
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Contributors
Keimpe Algra University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Frederik A. Bakker Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud
University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Delphine Bellis Department of Philosophy, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier,
France
William O. Duba Institut d’Études Médiévales, Université de Fribourg, Fribourg,
Switzerland
Natacha  Fabbri Galileo Museum, Institute and Museum for the History of
Science, Florence, Italy
Miguel Ángel Granada University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Carla Rita Palmerino Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud
University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Isabelle Pantin Ecole Normale Supérieure – PSL Research University, Paris,
France
Olivier Ribordy University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
Aurélien  Robert Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance, CNRS,
Université de Tours, Tours, France
Tiziana Suarez-Nani University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
ix
Chapter 1
Space, Imagination and the Cosmos,
from Antiquity to the Early Modern
Period: Introduction
Frederik A. Bakker, Delphine Bellis, and Carla Rita Palmerino
Abstract In this introduction, we explain our choice to approach the topic of space
from a cosmological perspective, that is, by studying the conceptions of space that
were implicitly or explicitly entailed by ancient, medieval and early modern repre-
sentations of the cosmos, and the role that imagination played in those conceptions.
We compare our approach with those of Alexandre Koyré and Edward Grant, and
we present the two important issues this book intends to shed light on, namely the
continuity and discontinuity between ancient, medieval, and early modern concep-
tions of space and the cosmos; and the role that metaphysical, cosmological, and
theological considerations played in the elaboration of new theories of space in the
course of history. This chapter also presents the main, recurring themes of this book:
the relation between place and space; the notion of imaginary spaces; the role played
by thought experiments in discussions concerning the nature of space and the struc-
ture of the cosmos; the impact of the condemnation of 1277 on subsequent theories
of space; and the relation between God’s immensity and the infinity of space.
Since antiquity space has been the object of metaphysical and physical enquiry. If
space is the framework in which whatever exists is located, in what sense can space
itself then be said to exist? Is it a substance or an accident? Does it exist indepen-
dently of the objects contained in it? Can a part of space be emptied of matter? And
are space and time isomorphic magnitudes? These questions have also had a bearing
on cosmological speculations. Issues such as the origin and structure of the world,
the infinity or finiteness of the universe, or the possibility of a plurality of worlds,
could not be dealt with without addressing the question of the nature of space. As
F. A. Bakker (*) · C. R. Palmerino
Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud University,
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
D. Bellis
Department of Philosophy, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France
e-mail: [email protected]
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 1
F. A. Bakker et al. (eds.), Space, Imagination and the Cosmos from Antiquity to
the Early Modern Period, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 48,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02765-0_1