For what did Giradano Bruno burn? Main ideas, works, discoveries

There are several points of view about what Giordano Bruno was burned for. In the mass consciousness he was entrusted with the image of a man executed for defending his heliocentric theory. However, if you look more closely at the biography and works of this thinker, you can see that his conflict with the Catholic Church was more religious than scientific.

The thinker's biography

Before you understand why Giordano Bruno was burned, you should consider his life's path. The future philosopher was born in 1548 in Italy near Naples. In this city the young man became a monk of the local monastery of St. Dominic. All his life, his religious pursuits went along with the scientific. Over time, Bruno became one of the most educated people of his time. As a child, he began to study logic, literature and dialectics.

At 24, the young Dominican became a priest. However, the life of Giordano Bruno was not connected with service in the church for long. Once he was caught reading a forbidden monastic literature. Then the Dominican fled first to Rome, then to the north of Italy, and then completely out of the country. There followed a short study at the University of Geneva, but also there Bruno was expelled on charges of heresy. The Thinker possessed an inquisitive mind. In his public appearances on disputes, he often went beyond the framework of Christian teaching, not agreeing with generally accepted dogmas.

Scientific activity

In 1580, Bruno moved to France. He taught at the largest university in the country - the Sorbonne. There also appeared the first printed works of Giordano Bruno. The books of the thinker were devoted to mnemonics - the art of remembering. Philosopher noted the French King Henry III. He gave protection to the Italian, inviting him to the court and providing all the necessary conditions for work.

It was Henry who contributed to the arrangement of Bruno at the English university in Oxford, where he moved at the age of 35. In London in 1584 the thinker published one of his most important books "On Infinity, the Universe and the Worlds." The scientist has long studied astronomy and the problems of the device of the cosmos. Infinite worlds, about which he spoke in his book, completely contradicted the generally accepted worldview.

The Italian was a supporter of the theory of Nicolaus Copernicus - this is another "point", for which Giordano Bruno was burned. Its essence (heliocentrism) was that the Sun is in the center of the planetary system, and the planets revolve around it. The church's point of view on this issue was exactly the opposite. Catholics believed that the Earth is in the center, and all the bodies move with the Sun around it (this is geocentrism). Bruno advocated the ideas of Copernicus in London, including the royal court of Elizabeth I. Supporters of the Italian did not find. Even the writer Shakespeare and philosopher Bacon did not support his views.

Return to Italy

After England, Bruno traveled several years in Europe (mainly in Germany). He had a hard time with his regular work, because universities were often afraid of accepting an Italian because of the radical nature of his ideas. The wanderer tried to settle in the Czech Republic. But he was not welcome in Prague either. Finally, in 1591 the thinker decided on a bold act. He returned to Italy, or rather to Venice, where he was invited by the aristocrat Giovanni Mocenigo. The young man began to pay generously Bruno for lessons on the mnemonics.

However, the relationship between the employer and the thinker soon deteriorated. In personal conversations, Bruno urged Mocenigo that there are endless worlds, the Sun is in the center of the world, etc. But the philosopher made an even greater mistake when he began to discuss religion with an aristocrat. From these conversations one can understand why Giordano Bruno was burned.

The accusation of Bruno

In 1592, Mocenigo sent several denunciations to the Venetian inquisitors, in which he described the bold ideas of the former Dominican. Giovanni Bruno complained that Jesus was a magician and tried to avoid his death, and did not accept her as a martyr, as the Gospel says. Moreover, the thinker spoke of the impossibility of retribution for sins, reincarnation and corruption of Italian monks. Denying the basic Christian dogmas about the divinity of Christ, the Immaculate Conception, the Trinity, etc., he inevitably became the sworn enemy of the church.

Bruno, in conversations with Mocenigo, mentioned the desire to create his own philosophical and religious teaching, "New Philosophy." The volume of heretical statements made by the Italian was so great that the inquisitors immediately engaged in the investigation. Bruno was arrested. He spent more than seven years in prisons and interrogations. Because of the impenetrability of the heretic, he was transported to Rome. But even there he remained unshakable. On February 17, 1600, he was burned at the stake in the Flowers Square in Rome. The thinker did not abandon his own views. Moreover, he stated that it is not at all to disprove his theory to burn it. Today, at the place of execution is a monument to Bruno, installed there in the late XIX century.

Fundamentals of Learning

Versatile teaching Giordano Bruno ignored both science and faith. When the thinker returned to Italy, he already saw himself as a preacher of a reformed religion. It was based on scientific knowledge. This combination explains the presence in the works of Bruno as logical arguments, and references to mysticism.

Of course, the philosopher formulated his theories not from scratch. Ideas Giordano Bruno largely based on the works of his many predecessors, including those who lived in the ancient era. An important foundation for the Dominican was radical Neoplatonism. This ancient philosophical school taught a mystical and intuitive way of knowing the world, logic, etc. The thinker adopted from her the ideas about the world soul, which moves the entire universe, and the one beginning of existence.

Also Bruno relied on Pythagoreanism. This philosophical and religious teaching was based on the representation of the universe as a harmonic system, subject to numerical patterns. His followers greatly influenced Kabbalistic and other mystical traditions.

Relation to religion

It is important to note that the anti-church views of Giordano Bruno did not mean at all that he was an atheist. On the contrary, the Italian remained a believer, although his idea of God was very different from Catholic dogmas. So, for example, before the execution is already ready to die Bruno said that he would go straight to the creator.

For the thinker, his commitment to heliocentrism was not a sign of rejection of religion. With the help of this theory, Bruno proved the truth of his Pythagorean idea, but did not deny the existence of God. That is, heliocentrism became a kind of mathematical way to supplement and develop the philosophical concept of the scientist.

Hermeticism

Another powerful source of inspiration Bruno has become hermetic philosophy. This teaching appeared in the era of late Antiquity, when Hellenism experienced its flourishing in the Mediterranean. The basis of the concept was the ancient texts, according to tradition, given by Hermes Trismegistus.

The teaching included elements of astrology, magic and alchemy. The esoteric and mysterious nature of Hermetic philosophy was very impressed by Giordano Bruno. The era of antiquity has long been in the past, but it was during the Renaissance in Europe that a fashion appeared to study and rethink such ancient sources. It is significant that one of the researchers of the heritage of Bruno, Francis Yates called it "Renaissance magician."

Cosmology

In the Renaissance, there were few researchers who had so much rethought cosmology and the structure of the universe as Giordano Bruno. The discoveries of the scientist on these issues are set forth in the works "On the Unlimited and Countless", "On the Infinite, the Universe and the Worlds" and "Feast on the Ashes". Ideas about the natural philosophy and cosmology of Bruno became revolutionary for contemporaries, because of what they were not accepted. The Thinker proceeded from the teachings of Nicholas Copernicus, supplementing and improving it. The main cosmological theses of the philosopher were as follows: the universe is infinite, distant stars are analogues of the terrestrial Sun, the universe is a single system with the same matter. The most famous idea of Bruno was the theory of heliocentrism, although the Poles of Copernicus offered it.

In cosmology, like religion, the Italian scientist proceeded not only from scientific considerations. He turned to magic and esotericism. Therefore, in the future, some of his theses were rejected by science. For example, Bruno believed that all matter is animated. Modern research refutes this idea.

Also, to prove his thesis, Bruno often resorted to logical reasoning. For example, his argument with the supporters of the theory of the immobility of the Earth (that is, geocentrism) is very revealing. His argument came from the thinker in the book "Feast on the ashes." Apologists of the Earth's immobility often criticized Bruno with the help of an example of a stone dropped from a high tower. If the planet rotated around the Sun and did not stand still, then the falling body would not fall directly down, but somewhat in another place.

In response, Bruno offered his argument. He defended his theory with an example of the movement of a ship. People jumping on a ship land on the same point. If the Earth was immobile, then on a floating ship this would be impossible. Hence, argued Bruno, a moving planet pulls for itself everything that is on it. In this correspondence with his opponents in the pages of one of his books, the Italian thinker came very close to the theory of relativity formulated by Einstein in the twentieth century.

Another important principle expressed by Bruno was the idea of homogeneity of matter and space. The scientist wrote that, based on this, it can be assumed that from the surface of any cosmic body, the universe will look approximately the same. In addition, the cosmology of the Italian philosopher directly spoke of the operation of general laws in the most diverse corners of the existing world.

Influence of Bruno's cosmology on the future science

Bruno's scientific research always went hand in hand with his vast ideas about theology, ethics, metaphysics, aesthetics, etc. Because of this, the cosmological versions of the Italian were filled with metaphors, sometimes only understandable to the author. His works have become the subject of research disputes, which do not stop even today.

Bruno was the first to suggest that the universe is infinite, and there is an infinite number of worlds in it. This idea contradicted the mechanics of Aristotle. The Italian often put forward his ideas only in a theoretical form, since in his time there were no technical means capable of confirming the scientist's guesses. However, modern science has been able to fill these gaps. The theory of a big explosion and infinite growth of the universe confirmed Bruno's ideas several centuries after the burning of the thinker at the stake of the Inquisition.

The scientist left behind himself reports on the analysis of falling bodies. His data became a prerequisite for the appearance in science of the principle of inertia proposed by Galileo Galileo. Bruno, one way or another, influenced the scientific revolution of the XVII century. The then researchers often used his works as auxiliary materials for the advancement of their own theories. The importance of the Dominican works already in modern times was emphasized by the German philosopher Moritz Schlick, one of the founders of logical positivism.

Criticism of the dogma of the Holy Trinity

Undoubtedly, the story of Giordano Bruno became another example of a man who claimed to be a messiah. This is indicated by the fact that he was going to found his own religion. In addition, the belief in a high mission did not allow the Italian to abandon his convictions during years of interrogation. Sometimes in conversations with the inquisitors, he was already inclined to compromise, but at the last moment he again began to insist on his own.

Bruno himself gave additional ground for accusations of heresy. On one of the interrogations, he stated that he considered the dogma of the Trinity to be false. The victim of the Inquisition argued its position with the help of various sources. The records of the interrogations of the thinker have been preserved in their original form, so today there is an opportunity to analyze how the system of ideas of Bruno was born. So, the Italian stated that the work of St. Augustine says that the term of the Holy Trinity did not arise in the Gospel age, but already in his time. Proceeding from this, the accused considered all dogma to be fiction and falsification.

A martyr of science or faith?

It is important that in the death sentence of Bruno there is not a single mention of the heliocentric system of the world. The document says that Brother Giovano propagated heretical religious teachings. This contradicts the widespread view that Bruno suffered for his scientific convictions. In fact, the church was furious with the criticism of the Christian dogmas by the philosopher. His idea of the location of the Sun and the Earth against this background became a childish prank.

Unfortunately, there are no specific references to what the heretic Bruno theses consisted in. This allowed historians to assume that more complete sources were lost or purposely destroyed. Today, the reader can judge the nature of the accusations of the former monk only on minor papers (Mocenigo denunciation, interrogation protocols, etc.).

Especially interesting in this series is the letter by Caspar Schoppe. It was a Jesuit who was present at the announcement of the verdict of the heretic. In his letter he mentioned the main claims of the court to Bruno. In addition to the above, we can note the idea that Moses was a magician, and from Adam and Eve only Jews were born. The rest of the human race, argued the philosopher, appeared thanks to two other people created by God the day before the couple from the Garden of Eden. Bruno persistently praised the magic and considered it useful. In his statements, one can once again see a commitment to the ideas of ancient hermeticism.

It is symbolic that already the modern Roman Catholic Church refuses to reconsider the case of Giordano Bruno. For more than 400 years after the death of the thinker, the pontiffs have never justified it, although the same has been done against many heretics of the past.