Speaker 1: You see, something's going to happen. What's going to happen?
Speaker 2: Heine?
Speaker 1: What help?
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the occult rejects. This is part two
Speaker 2: of the life of Jeadano Bruno. I hope you all
Speaker 2: enjoyed part one, and if you haven't listened to that yet,
Speaker 2: I suggest you do before you listen to this. And
Speaker 2: now let's continue off where we left off in part one.
Speaker 2: By fifteen ninety one, Bruno had spent over a decade.
Speaker 1: Crisis crossing Europe.
Speaker 2: He was famous in intellectual circles, but had failed to
Speaker 2: find a secure patron or Haven and Frankfurt. In spring
Speaker 2: of fifteen ninety one, at the Frankfurt book Fair, Bruno
Speaker 2: met a Venetian patrician named Giovanni Mossenigo moss in Ego
Speaker 2: and an aristocrat with an interest in esoteric knowledge, invited
Speaker 2: Bruno to Venice to tutor him in the arts of
Speaker 2: memory and perhaps.
Speaker 1: Share occult secrets.
Speaker 2: At the same time, Bruno heard that the prestigious University
Speaker 2: of Padowa near Venice was looking to fill its chair
Speaker 2: of mathematics, a position left vacant by the recent death
Speaker 2: of a luminary. This was a golden opportunity. Padowa was
Speaker 2: one of the foremost universities in Europe. Soon it would
Speaker 2: hire Galileo for that very chair. Believing perhaps that the
Speaker 2: climate in Italy had softened, Pope's sixthus to fifth, known
Speaker 2: as a hardliner, had died in fifteen ninety and Venice
Speaker 2: in particular was known for a relative independence from Rome,
Speaker 2: Bruno made the fateful decision to return to Italy. He
Speaker 2: later claimed that he thought the inquisition would be less
Speaker 2: strict in Venice, reputedly the most liberal state in Italy.
Speaker 2: In August of fifteen ninety one, after fifteen years abroad,
Speaker 2: Giodano Bruno came back to Italian soil. Bruno first spent
Speaker 2: a few months at Padua in late fifteen ninety one.
Speaker 2: He lectured privately in geometry and Aristolian philosophy, and even
Speaker 2: taught some German students there. He applied for the math professorship,
Speaker 2: offering his expertise in the art of memory and Copernican cosmology,
Speaker 2: but in early fifteen ninety two, the Padua position was
Speaker 2: instead awarded to a less controversial figure, a young mathematics
Speaker 2: tutor named Galileo. Disappointed, Bruno accepted Monsignego's invitation, and moved
Speaker 2: into Monsenego's palace in Venice in March fifteen ninety two.
Speaker 2: For about two months, Bruno lived comfortably as Mossenego's private tutor,
Speaker 2: imparting his knowledge of mnemonic techniques and discussing philosophy. However,
Speaker 2: Bruno's candid discourse soon alarmed the host. Cenego became disillusion
Speaker 2: Perhaps Bruno's memory training did not produce the quick results
Speaker 2: he hoped for, or perhaps Bruno divulged in some theological
Speaker 2: views that he did not agree with. On May twenty second,
Speaker 2: fifteen ninety two, Giovanni Mossenego betrayed his house guest. He
Speaker 2: denounced Giodanno Bruno to the Venetian Inquisition, providing a list
Speaker 2: of heretical statements Bruno had allegedly made. Bruno was arrested
Speaker 2: in Venice on May twenty third, fifteen ninety two, and
Speaker 2: thrown into the Inquisition's prison. Among the numerous charges Mossenego
Speaker 2: leveled were that Bruno disbelieved core Catholic doctrines, the trinity,
Speaker 2: the divinity of Christ in the virginity of Mary, and
Speaker 2: that he saw nothing wrong in renouncing the Catholic faith,
Speaker 2: that he had trafficked in magic, and that he had
Speaker 2: held the belief in a plurality of worlds and their eternity.
Speaker 2: It was a sweeping condemnation of Bruno's worldview. Over the
Speaker 2: next seven months, the Venetian Holy Office interrogated Bruno. Bruno
Speaker 2: behaved cooperatively at first, he saw a chance to argue
Speaker 2: his case in a relative open minded court. Venice often
Speaker 2: prided itself on handling its own affairs, and its inquisition
Speaker 2: was considered milder than Rome's. Bruno defended himself, skillfully denying
Speaker 2: some charges outright and presenting others as philosophical speculations.
Speaker 1: Rather than fixed heresies.
Speaker 2: For example, on the accusation of believing in multiple worlds,
Speaker 2: Bruno admitted he had entertained the idea as a philosopher,
Speaker 2: but with the reservation that I would not whold it
Speaker 2: defendant against the Holy scriptures. Trying to placate the examiners
Speaker 2: by drawing a line between philosophy and theology, Bruno stressed
Speaker 2: that in question of faith, he accepted Church doctrine, and
Speaker 2: that where he had doubted, for instance, about certain aspects
Speaker 2: of Catholic dogma, he had done so only hypothetically. These
Speaker 2: careful equivocations nearly saved him. In fact, the Venetian inquisitors
Speaker 2: seemed so somewhat persuaded. One report suggests they were inclined
Speaker 2: to be lenient or even release Bruno with a warning,
Speaker 2: since his ideas were in the realm of philosophy and
Speaker 2: had not been publicly preached as religious doctrine. The situation
Speaker 2: took a dire turn when the Roman Inquisition, far less sympathetic, intervened.
Speaker 2: In September of fifteen ninety two, the Holy Office in Rome,
Speaker 2: prompted by testimony against Bruno that hand trickled down from
Speaker 2: previous stops Geneva and other places, demanded Bruno's extradition to Rome.
Speaker 2: For months, the Venetian government resisted handing him over, perhaps
Speaker 2: reflecting Venice's independent streak and some support for Bruno among
Speaker 2: Venetian intellectuals. Bruno himself wrote to the Venetian Senate arguing
Speaker 2: that his case should remain in Venice, but in January
Speaker 2: of fifteen ninety three, Venice bowed to pressure, possibly fearing
Speaker 2: offending the powerful Pope Clement the Eighth. Bruno was sent
Speaker 2: under guard to Rome to face the full might of
Speaker 2: the Roman Inquisition. Tiodano Bruno spent the last seven years
Speaker 2: of his life in the prisons of the Roman Inquisition.
Speaker 2: He was incarcerated in the Tower of Nona in Rome
Speaker 2: in a small cell. While his trial dragged on, the Inquisition,
Speaker 2: led by the Formidables Cardinal Robert Bellamine, collected evidence and
Speaker 2: witness testimonies from all over Europe to build an air
Speaker 2: tight case. Unfortunately, many trial documents were later lost. Some
Speaker 2: resurfaced only in the twentieth century, but enough remained to
Speaker 2: reconstruct the outline. The charges against Bruno had crystallized into
Speaker 2: eight eight main accusations enumerated by the inquisitors. According to
Speaker 2: the summary rediscovered in nineteen forty by scholar Luigi Erpo,
Speaker 2: Bruno was accused of one holding opinions contrary to the
Speaker 2: Catholic faith and speaking against church authority. Two holding erroneous
Speaker 2: opinions about the Trinity, Christ's divinity and incarnation, Three holding
Speaker 2: erroneous opinions about Jesus as Christ, perhaps denying that Christ
Speaker 2: was God Man. Four holding erroneous opinions about the Virgin
Speaker 2: Mary and the Saints. Five holding erroneous opinions about trans
Speaker 2: substantiation the Eucharist, and six claiming the existence of plurality
Speaker 2: of worlds and their eternity in infinite universe, number seven
Speaker 2: believing in metempsychosis, the transmigration of souls, reincarnation into animals,
Speaker 2: and number eight dealing in magic and divination. In short,
Speaker 2: Bruno was accused of being a heretic on virtually every count,
Speaker 2: the nature of God, God, Christ and the Cosmos, the sacraments,
Speaker 2: the after life, and involvement in occult arts. Before the
Speaker 2: Roman Inquisition, Bruno initially continued his tactic of partial compliance.
Speaker 2: Throughout fifteen ninety three and fifteen ninety nine, he was
Speaker 2: repeatedly examined. He answered many questions and sought to explain
Speaker 2: or contextualize his writings. He acknowledged that he had speculated
Speaker 2: about an infinite universe of multiple worlds, but argued these
Speaker 2: were philosophical conjectures not intended to contradict scripture. He denied
Speaker 2: believing in magic in any heretical sense, claiming his magic
Speaker 2: was natural linked to memory and imagination, not demonology.
Speaker 1: He tried to.
Speaker 2: Separate himself from the Lutheran and Calvinist heresies, emphasizing that
Speaker 2: he had never adopted their doctrines. Indeed, he's been excommunicated
Speaker 2: by them. However, the inquisitors, especially Cardinal, were not satisfied.
Speaker 2: They pressed Bruno to formally recant all his suspected heresies.
Speaker 2: In January of fifteen ninety nine, the Inquisition drew up
Speaker 2: a document summarizing Bruno's heretical propositions. Unfortunately, this document is
Speaker 2: lost now, but it contained eight propositions extracted from his works.
Speaker 2: In testimony, Bruno was told to abjure solemnly recant these propositions,
Speaker 2: or face condemnation. Initially, Bruno stoled. On January fourteenth, fifteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine, he was asked if he would abjure, He
Speaker 2: requested time to consider. Four days later, brought before the inquisitors,
Speaker 2: Bruno declared that he did wish to hold with the
Speaker 2: Holy Church holds, effectively offering to recant, but crucially with
Speaker 2: the qualification that he did not believe he had ever erred.
Speaker 1: Words.
Speaker 2: He was willing to submit to the Church's judgment, but
Speaker 2: would not explicitly confess to teaching heresy.
Speaker 1: He even prepared ritent.
Speaker 2: Defenses justifying his philosophical positions as not contrary to faith.
Speaker 2: This maneuver trying to concede without truly conceding had worked
Speaker 2: for Bruno before, as in Venice, but Bellamine saw through it,
Speaker 2: regarding Bruno's half recantations as obstinacy. In December of fifteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine, the trial approached its end, the inquisitors gave
Speaker 2: Bruno one final opportunity to repent plainly. This time, Bruno
Speaker 2: did not equivocate, perhaps deciding he could not sacrifice his integrity,
Speaker 2: he refused to recant outright. On December twenty first, fifteen
Speaker 2: ninety nine, when pressed yet again to abjure, Bruno defied
Speaker 2: his judges. I neither ought to recant.
Speaker 1: Nor will I.
Speaker 2: I have nothing to recant, and I don't know what
Speaker 2: I should recant. With this stubborn retort, Bruno sealed his fate.
Speaker 2: The Inquisition Tribunal, which included theologians from various orders, among
Speaker 2: them Bruno's own Dominican Order, unanimously declared him impotent and
Speaker 2: relapsed a heretic beyond hope of reform.
Speaker 1: Whew.
Speaker 2: They petition Pope Clement the Eighth for permission to proceed
Speaker 2: to sentencing. On January twentieth, sixteen hundred. The Inquisition with
Speaker 2: the Pope's approval formally condemned Giodano Bruno to death as
Speaker 2: an obstinate heretic. He was to be handed over to
Speaker 2: the secular authorities. The inquisitors also decreed that all of
Speaker 2: Bruno's works in manuscript or print were to be placed
Speaker 2: on the index of prohibited books and destroyed. According to
Speaker 2: a dispatch by a German witness, the scholar Gasper's Shop.
Speaker 2: When the sentence was announced in the courtroom, Bruno responded
Speaker 2: with legendary courage. He is reported to have told the
Speaker 2: judge in English, perhaps you who pronounce this sentence are
Speaker 2: in greater fear than I who will receive it. This
Speaker 2: defying quip basically Bruno telling the inquisitors that their consciousness
Speaker 2: should tremble more than his. May be apocryphal. Shop was
Speaker 2: not an eyewitness to Bruno's final words, but he heard rumors.
Speaker 1: True or not.
Speaker 2: It has become the most famous quote attributed to Bruno,
Speaker 2: encapsulating his fearless challenge to authority. On February seventeenth, sixteen hundred,
Speaker 2: in the early dawn, Jiandanno Bruno was taken from his
Speaker 2: cell the civil authorities. The governor of Rome led him
Speaker 2: to the Campo di Fiori, a public square not far
Speaker 2: from the Tiber, as was customary for one convicted of heresy.
Speaker 2: Bruno's tongue was bound clamped with an iron gag to
Speaker 2: prevent him from addressing the crowd or shouting out any blasphemies.
Speaker 2: He was stripped naked and then tied to a wooden stake.
Speaker 2: A lay brotherhood whose duty was to attend executions chanted
Speaker 2: litany's for his soul. Piled high around him were wooden
Speaker 2: bundles with a final order. The executioners lit the pyre Geodanno.
Speaker 2: Bruno was burned, alive in the flames, faithful to his
Speaker 2: ideas until his last breath. He was approximately fifty two
Speaker 2: years old. After his body was consumed by fire, the
Speaker 2: remnants of ash and bone were collected and scattered into
Speaker 2: the river Tiber, so that no relic would remain. The
Speaker 2: church aimed to erase Bruno's physical presence and memory, but
Speaker 2: in this it failed. Bruno's martyrdom. The fact that a theologian, philosopher,
Speaker 2: and scientist was executed by fire in the year sixteen
Speaker 2: hundred sent through the intellectual community of Europe. All of
Speaker 2: Bruno's books were banned in Catholic territories by sixteen oh three,
Speaker 2: but clandestine copies survived, and his name took on a
Speaker 2: life of its own. Even at the moment of his death,
Speaker 2: Bruno's legacy began to form. The witness described that Bruno,
Speaker 2: faced with the crucifix one last time by a monk,
Speaker 2: turned his head away with disdain, a final gesture of refusal.
Speaker 2: His executioners sought to silence him, but in doing so
Speaker 2: they amplified his message. Bruno became, in the eyes of
Speaker 2: later generations, a symbol of the freedom of thought against
Speaker 2: the coercion of dogma. As the plaque now embedded in
Speaker 2: the Roman squared notes. His ashes were thrown to the winds,
Speaker 2: but his ideas were not extinguished. One cannot understand Geodonald
Speaker 2: Bruno with out delving into his mystical and occult interests.
Speaker 2: Bruno was not a scientist in the modern sense. He
Speaker 2: was a philosopher magician of the Renaissance, deeply influenced by Hermeticism, Neoplatonism,
Speaker 2: and the cabalistic tradition. In Bruno's era, the study of
Speaker 2: magic and natural philosophy were often entwined. Bruno truly believed
Speaker 2: that the hidden knowledge from antiquity, the wisdom of the
Speaker 2: ancient magi, could expand understanding and even confer powers. He
Speaker 2: was the heir to the Renaissance tradition of Marsilio Ficino
Speaker 2: and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, who had revived interest in
Speaker 2: the legendary Egyptian stage, Hermes, Tristemegistus, and other pre Christian
Speaker 2: sources of wisdom. Ficino taught that the ancient theologians Zorest, Hermes, Orpheus, Pythagoras,
Speaker 2: Plato had a glimpse of divine truth that culminated in Christianity.
Speaker 2: Bruno took this idea further and in a subversive direction.
Speaker 2: He argued that much of what passed as Christian truth
Speaker 2: in his time was actually a corruption of the true
Speaker 2: ancient wisdom. He called Aristotle the cornerstone of scholastic theology,
Speaker 2: the stupidness of all philosophers, for having distorted the original
Speaker 2: mystical insights of the ancients. Bruno dreamed of restoring this
Speaker 2: lost primortal wisdom. In his view, the Egyptians, as known
Speaker 2: through Hermetic text and the Pythagoreans had known profound truths
Speaker 2: about the universe in God, which later philosophers had obscured.
Speaker 2: This veneration of ancient ocult wisdom led Bruno to esoteric practices.
Speaker 2: He immersed himself in Kabbalah and astromagic While in the
Speaker 2: Dominican convent, he had read mystical works by Heinrich Cornelius
Speaker 2: Agrippa and others, picking up ideas about natural magic, the
Speaker 2: belief that the knowledgeable can manipulate natural forces through symbols, chants,
Speaker 2: and correspondences. Bruno believed that magic was not demonic, but
Speaker 2: a part of nature's hidden potential. In his dialogues and
Speaker 2: later Latin treaties, Bruno portrays magicians as wise men attuned
Speaker 2: to the unity of nature. One of Bruno's key magical
Speaker 2: pursuits was the art of memory, which he had demonstrated
Speaker 2: to kings and scholars. Far from being a mere nomonic trick,
Speaker 2: Bruno considered it a magical art, a weighed to penetrate
Speaker 2: the structural reality by impressing images on the mind. He
Speaker 2: devised elaborate memory systems that involved constructing mental memory wheels
Speaker 2: or theaters filled with symbolic images, often planetary gods, zodiacal signs,
Speaker 2: or geometric figures. By mentally rotating and permuting these images,
Speaker 2: Bruno claimed one could recall anything and also discover new
Speaker 2: connections between ideas. Bruno's contemporaries often suspected sorcery in his
Speaker 2: nomonic feats King Henry the Third as noted to directly
Speaker 2: as if Bruno's memory was natural or acquired by magic.
Speaker 2: Bruno insisted it was organized knowledge and not sorcery. Yet
Speaker 2: there was an undeniably mystical aspect to his approach. He
Speaker 2: believed by using planet images and symbols, one could tap
Speaker 2: into the deeper patterns of the cosmos and the soul.
Speaker 2: In Bruno's cosmology, mind, nature, and image were all linked,
Speaker 2: a truly hermetic view. Thus, Bruno's memory art was also
Speaker 2: a cult, a way to achieve union with the universe's intellect.
Speaker 2: This blending of mental training and magic is a hallmark
Speaker 2: of Bruno's uniqueness. Bruno's later treaties in Germany delve even
Speaker 2: more explicitly into magic. In Theses d Maginated from fifteen
Speaker 2: eighty nine, he outlines different categories of magic and magical operations,
Speaker 2: arguing that in magus is essentially a natural philosopher who
Speaker 2: understands the secrets of nature. He sees magic as extending
Speaker 2: the powers of the mind. In Will, Bruno analyzes how
Speaker 2: emotions and imaginations can create bonds between people or between
Speaker 2: people and objects, knowledge critical for both magicians and rulers.
Speaker 2: For instance, love combined a person stronger than any chain.
Speaker 2: A skilled magus can use a beloved image or an
Speaker 2: idea to control others. This work is sometimes considered an
Speaker 2: early treatise on psychological influence or even crowd manipulation. It
Speaker 2: is both disconcerting and insightful, showing Bruno's keen understanding of
Speaker 2: human nature. Bruno was particularly fascinated by hermetic symbols and
Speaker 2: Egyptian religion. He believed the Egyptians, in venerating the stars
Speaker 2: and formulating enomatic hieroglyphs, were closer to the divine truth
Speaker 2: than his Christian contemporaries. In Spasio della Bestia, he has
Speaker 2: Egyptian goddess Isis appear as a character, and in other words,
Speaker 2: he extols Hermes Trismegistus as a font of ancient theology.
Speaker 2: Bruno reversed the common Christian view by suggesting that Moses
Speaker 2: had learned from Hermes, not the other way around. Such
Speaker 2: claims were theologically outrageous, effectively subverting the uniqueness of biblical revelation.
Speaker 2: Bruno's reverence for pantheistic and animistic ideas also stemmed from
Speaker 2: his occult outlook. He advocated a form of Egyptian religion
Speaker 2: that would be free of what he saw as the
Speaker 2: superstitions and petty rules of his errors Christianity. Unsurprisingly, the
Speaker 2: Inquisition found these views abhorrent, seeing Bruno as a giant
Speaker 2: syncretist who mixed paganism and Christianity into a dangerous heretical cocktail.
Speaker 2: To Bruno, religion and morality should be based on philosophical truth,
Speaker 2: not blind faith. He often criticized the corruption of priests
Speaker 2: and the emphasis on external worship. He was not exactly atheists.
Speaker 2: He often spoke of God, but his God was not
Speaker 2: the personal God of the Bible. It was more like
Speaker 2: the soul of the universe, an infinite divine presence manifest
Speaker 2: in everything, what one might call pantheism. God is in
Speaker 2: all things, Bruno taught as the soul is in every
Speaker 2: part of the body, a notion echoing the Hermetic dictum
Speaker 2: God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere,
Speaker 2: also adopted by Nicholas of cusa earlier. Bruno's idea of
Speaker 2: libertas philosophica the freedom to philosophize, was grounded in his
Speaker 2: conviction that seeking truth through whatever means, reason, experience, even magic,
Speaker 2: is the highest task of the mind. He held that
Speaker 2: no authority should bar the pursuit of truth, even if
Speaker 2: it leads to ideas not accepted by faith, as he
Speaker 2: argued in Venice. This attitude deeply rooted in his mystical
Speaker 2: confidence that the universe refeels itself to them a bold thinker,
Speaker 2: made Bruno a martyr figure for later ages. In summary,
Speaker 2: Bruno's mysticism and occultism were not mere side hobbies. They
Speaker 2: were at the heart of his philosophy. He envisioned the
Speaker 2: universe as a living, unified whole animated by a divine spirit.
Speaker 2: He saw ancient magic and hermetic symbolisms as tools to
Speaker 2: reconnect with the spirit. While modern science found Bruno's ocultism
Speaker 2: to be of little value, historians like Francis Yates argue
Speaker 2: that Bruno and the hermetic tradition contributed to the imaginative
Speaker 2: leap that led to seeing the cosmos as boundless. The
Speaker 2: same mysticism that led Bruno to search the secrets of
Speaker 2: the Egyptians also emboldened him to declare the infinity of worlds.
Speaker 2: In Bruno's mind, magic, religion, philosophy, and science were threads
Speaker 2: of one tapestry. This Renaissance magus philosopher lived in died
Speaker 2: by that synthesis, refusing to abandon his combination of profound
Speaker 2: philosophy and somewhat wilfil contrariness even under the threat of
Speaker 2: the state.
Speaker 1: Geodanna.
Speaker 2: Bruno's most celebrated contributions lie in cosmology, the understanding of
Speaker 2: the structure of the universe. Bruno became known, especially in
Speaker 2: later centuries, as a visionary who, building on Copernicus, imagined
Speaker 2: a universe far more vast and varied than anyone had
Speaker 2: conceived before. To appreciate Bruno's cosmology, it's important to recall
Speaker 2: what most people of his era believed. Throughout the fifteen hundreds,
Speaker 2: the dominant model taught in universities and upheld by the
Speaker 2: Church was the Ptolemaic Aristolian cosmology, a geocentric universe. In
Speaker 2: this model, the spherical earth rested at the center of creation,
Speaker 2: and around it rotated a series of concentric, transparent spheres
Speaker 2: to which the heavenly bodies were attached. Nearest was the
Speaker 2: Moon sphere, then Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Speaker 2: the only known planets at the time, and finally the
Speaker 2: vast sphere of the fixed stars. This outermost star sphere
Speaker 2: marked the boundary of the universe. Beyond it was the
Speaker 2: spiritual realm. The stars were thought to be equidistant, all
Speaker 2: embedded in that single celestial shell. The cosmos was finite enclosed,
Speaker 2: like an onion of crystal layers. In fifteen forty three,
Speaker 2: Copernicus proposed a sun centered arrangement of the planets. Copernicus's
Speaker 2: system still retained certain traditional features. He still used circular
Speaker 2: orbits and even spheres to some extent. He kept the
Speaker 2: idea of a sphere of fixed stars at the outer boundary,
Speaker 2: so the universe was still finite enclosed in Copernicus's view.
Speaker 2: Copernicus did not suggest that the stars were other suns,
Speaker 2: or that space was infinite. He merely swapped the positions
Speaker 2: of Earth and Sun and adjustice the orbits. Even this
Speaker 2: shift was controversial. It dethroned Earth from the center. It
Speaker 2: had no immediate observational proof. During Bruno's youth, Copernican theory
Speaker 2: was slowly spreading among scholars, but had not been accepted
Speaker 2: as fact. By the fifteen eighties, many academics, especially in
Speaker 2: Catholic countries, still dismissed heliocentrism as an absurd or unproven hypothesis,
Speaker 2: often citing the lack of observed stellar parallax as Aristotle had.
Speaker 2: Into this atmosphere came Bruno, who embraced Compernicus with enthusiasm
Speaker 2: and then went much much further. Bruno called Copernicus the
Speaker 2: dawn of the New era, but considered Copernican heliocentrism a
Speaker 2: mere beginning.
Speaker 1: If the Earth is not the.
Speaker 2: Center, Bruno reasoned, why should the Sun be the absolute
Speaker 2: center either. Copernicus had replaced Earth with the Sun as
Speaker 2: the fixed point, and still a firmament of stars. Enclosing
Speaker 2: this system, Bruno boldly abolished the firmament.
Speaker 1: He asserted that the stars are not lights on a.
Speaker 2: Crystal globe at a fixed distance, but rather innumerable distant
Speaker 2: suns scattered through space. Consequently, there could be no final boundary.
Speaker 2: Space extends infinitely in all directions. There is no single
Speaker 2: center of the universe. The center is everywhere, because from
Speaker 2: the perspective of any star, it looks like you're at
Speaker 2: the center of your own stars system. Bruno wrote, there
Speaker 2: is no absolute up or down, no absolute location in space.
Speaker 2: The position of a body is relative to that of others.
Speaker 2: The observer is always at the center of things. This
Speaker 2: was a radical claim, essentially introducing the idea of relativity
Speaker 2: of motion and position well before Galileo or Einstein, though
Speaker 2: Bruno framed it in qualitative terms. Bruno's infinite universe was
Speaker 2: filled with innumerable worlds. In on the Infinite Universe and Worlds,
Speaker 2: he insists that our son is just one star among
Speaker 2: countless and our earth just one world among an infinity
Speaker 2: of worlds of the same kind as our own. He
Speaker 2: credited earlier thinkers for hints of this idea, notably the
Speaker 2: fifteenth century cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, who had written the
Speaker 2: universe has its center everywhere, in circumference nowhere and speculated
Speaker 2: about life on other stars. Bruno indeed called Cusa divine
Speaker 2: and saw him as a kindred spirit. Bruno also acknowledged
Speaker 2: the English astronomer Thomas Diggis, who in fifteen seventy six
Speaker 2: had published a Copernican model with an infinite star filled space,
Speaker 2: But Bruno's cosmology was more daring and comprehensive than either.
Speaker 2: He combined the infinity of space with a philosophical argument.
Speaker 2: An infinite God would naturally create an infinite reflection of
Speaker 2: himself the universe. Bruno put it this way, the universe
Speaker 2: has no edge a limit, because God's power is unlimited.
Speaker 2: The medieval idea of a cozy, well ordered creation was,
Speaker 2: in Bruno's eyes, too constraining on God. Because Bruno's universe
Speaker 2: had innumerable sons, It's almost inevitably followed that there are
Speaker 2: numerable earths planets like ours orbiting those suns, and to
Speaker 2: Bruno it seemed absurd to think Earth was the only
Speaker 2: world teeming with life. Why would an infinite God populate
Speaker 2: just one speck with life and leave all other worlds barren.
Speaker 2: Thus Bruno became perhaps the first person in Western thought
Speaker 2: to argue for the plurality of inhabited worlds as a reality.
Speaker 2: He declared that other planets and worlds were no worse
Speaker 2: and no less inhabitmitted than our Earth, as earlier noted.
Speaker 2: By doing so, Bruno implicitly raised profound theological questions. For example,
Speaker 2: if those other worlds had sentient beings, did they have
Speaker 2: their own Christs and their own incarnations. The Church was
Speaker 2: deeply troubled by this line of thought, and indeed Bruno's
Speaker 2: belief in metempsychosis, reincarnation, and possibly transmigration of souls between
Speaker 2: worlds was one of the charges against him. Bruno seemed
Speaker 2: to entertain that souls might migrate, or that each world
Speaker 2: might have its own forms of life destined for salvation
Speaker 2: or damnation, breaking the unique story of Christian redemption on Earth.
Speaker 2: Bruno's cosmic pluralism was thus theologically explosive. In modern retrospect,
Speaker 2: Bruno's cosmological vision was remarkably ahead of its time. He
Speaker 2: essentially anticipated that Copernican principle taken to the extreme, that
Speaker 2: our position in the universe is not special. In the
Speaker 2: nineteenth century, Humboldt and others would praise Bruno for this
Speaker 2: plurality of world's cosmology, and in the twenty to twenty
Speaker 2: first century, as astronomers discovered exoplanets by the thousands, Bruno
Speaker 2: often gets credit as a prescient voice who guessed the
Speaker 2: vastness of the universe. However, it's crucial to remember Bruno's
Speaker 2: reasoning was not based on empirical observation. The telescope would
Speaker 2: not be invented until sixteen oh eight, eight years after
Speaker 2: his death. His arguments were philosophical and theological, rooted in
Speaker 2: ideas of infinity and perfection, as well as a dose
Speaker 2: of mystical intuition about the boundlessness of creation.
Speaker 1: Bruno wrote that with.
Speaker 2: Copernicus, the gates of the sky were flung open, and
Speaker 2: we flew out to space, infinite and free. He truly
Speaker 2: imagined the universe that we know today, millions of galaxies
Speaker 2: with billions of suns, though obviously he couldn't have had
Speaker 2: an inkling of the scale. He still thought in terms
Speaker 2: of stars and planets, not galaxies, as those concepts awaited
Speaker 2: later discovery. Bruno also made qualitative conjectures that foreshadow later science.
Speaker 2: For example, he surmised that space is essentially a vacuum,
Speaker 2: against Aristotle's ascertation that nature abhors a vacuum, that stars
Speaker 2: vary in size, and that the twinkling of stars is
Speaker 2: due to their immense distance, a correct insight. He even
Speaker 2: means that some stars might have dark companions, or that
Speaker 2: space is traversible in theory science fiction, ideas far ahead
Speaker 2: of his time. In On Cause, Principle and Unity, Bruno states,
Speaker 2: innumerable celestial bodies, no one of which is at the
Speaker 2: absolute center.
Speaker 1: Fill the universe.
Speaker 2: Everywhere there is incessant relative change of position, the observd
Speaker 2: is always at the center. This conceptual leap one Bruno
Speaker 2: placed in the scientific pantheon for later generations, even though
Speaker 2: Bruno did not prove these things or even articulate them
Speaker 2: in a rigorous scientific way. Interestingly, Bruno combined his cosmology
Speaker 2: with an atomistic physics that was also ahead of its
Speaker 2: time in some ways. In his Latin words, he proposed
Speaker 2: that matter is made of indivisible minima or monads, essentially
Speaker 2: an atomic theory of matter and energy. He extended this
Speaker 2: to say there are no minimum particles of body, of
Speaker 2: spirit and of quantity, like points the atom of space.
Speaker 2: He suggested that matter can't be infinitely divided, a notion
Speaker 2: similar to ancient Greek atomism and later science. He also
Speaker 2: speculated that these atoms were in constant motion and transmutation,
Speaker 2: while Bruno's minima were more metaphysical abstract actions than physical atoms.
Speaker 2: Historians note that among the magic, Bruno's writings contain some
Speaker 2: remarkable insights, including an atomic theory for matter. Modern commentators
Speaker 2: sometimes point out that Bruno's idea of countless worlds and
Speaker 2: perhaps countless living atoms resonates loosely with later developments like
Speaker 2: the infinite universes of multiverse theory, or the concept that
Speaker 2: matter and energy are quantized. However, Bruno did not develop
Speaker 2: quantitative laws or experiments, and his knowledge of mathematics was limited.
Speaker 2: In fact, Bruno discharged the idea that nature could be
Speaker 2: explained by mere mathematics, a distinctly anti Copernican stance on
Speaker 2: that point. For Bruno, geometry is for the physical, but
Speaker 2: the physical is sustained by the divine, meaning he never
Speaker 2: fully embraced the mathematical physics that became the hallmark of
Speaker 2: scientific revolution.
Speaker 1: This is why some.
Speaker 2: Historians like Bertrand and Russell have been harsh, saying Bruno
Speaker 2: had fruitful intuitions lost in a disorder and was not
Speaker 2: a scientist per se. It is crucial to clarify a
Speaker 2: popular misconception Bruno was executed primarily for his religious and
Speaker 2: philosophical heresies, not specifically for his cosmological views. In modern times,
Speaker 2: Bruno is often held as a martyr for science, implicitly
Speaker 2: comparable to Galileo. However, as the Vatican has since stressed,
Speaker 2: and as most historians agree, Bruno's trial focused on theological doctrines,
Speaker 2: the Trinity, the nature of God, and on magic and metaphysics,
Speaker 2: rather than on his belief that Earth moves. Heliocentrism was
Speaker 2: not yet an official heresy in sixteen hundred, the Church
Speaker 2: would condemn it only in sixteen sixteen. During Galileo's time,
Speaker 2: the inquisitors did reprimand Bruno for his plurality of world's
Speaker 2: cosmology and infinite universe idea, among his errors, but had
Speaker 2: that been Bruno's only deviation, he might have gotten off with.
Speaker 1: A slap on the wrist. It was Bruno's.
Speaker 2: Pantheism, his denial of core Catholic dogmas, and his refusals
Speaker 2: to recant that ultimately led to his execution. As the
Speaker 2: Mactudor History of Mathematics Biography notes, it is now generally
Speaker 2: recorded that Bruno was burned at the stake for his
Speaker 2: belief that the universe is infinite, But as we have seen,
Speaker 2: the whole affair was considerably more complicated than that. Bruno himself,
Speaker 2: by defending his philosophical positions as compatible with Christianity when
Speaker 2: the Church insisted otherwise, almost seems to have challenged the
Speaker 2: Inquisition to try him. He was unwilling to capitulate. So
Speaker 2: while Bruno's cosmology was visionary, his death was the result
Speaker 2: of a collision with Church authority on many fronts. In
Speaker 2: Bruno's mind, these fronts were all related. His infinite universe
Speaker 2: was part of an integrated heresy about God and nature,
Speaker 2: but the Inquisition was most threatened by the theological implications
Speaker 2: of his ideas. In retrospect, Bruno's cosmic ideas exerted a
Speaker 2: great influence on literature and philosophy, if not directly on
Speaker 2: the progression of science in the seventeenth century, Philosophers like
Speaker 2: Spinosa and Leibniz, who formulated monads were arguably influenced by
Speaker 2: Bruno's bold blending of the infinite and the one. Poets
Speaker 2: and writers found inspiration in Bruno's vision of an endless universe.
Speaker 2: For example, on sixteen eleven, Shakespeare's contemporary John Don wrote,
Speaker 2: the New Philosophy calls all in doubt the element of
Speaker 2: fire is quite put out, it's all in pieces, all
Speaker 2: coherence gone, reflecting the unsettling impact of new cosmologies. Don
Speaker 2: may have been alluding to Bruno's shattering of the crystalline spheres.
Speaker 2: Much later, nineteenth century science popularizes and securarists idolized Bruno
Speaker 2: as a prophet of modern astronomy. His universe was infinite,
Speaker 2: proclaimed an article in nineteen forty lauding Bruno's anticipation of
Speaker 2: cosmic pluralism. In the nineteen seventies TV series Cosmos, Karlsagan
Speaker 2: famously dramatized Bruno's vision of the vast universe as a
Speaker 2: heroic flash of insight. In twenty fourteen, the updated Cosmo
Speaker 2: series again featured Bruno, portraying him as a lonely visionary
Speaker 2: of an infinite cosmos who was burned by an ignorant church.
Speaker 2: This portrayal drew some criticism from historians for oversimplification, but
Speaker 2: it shows how strongly Bruno's cosmic legacy endures. Even modern
Speaker 2: scientific institutions have paid tribute to Bruno. The SETI Search
Speaker 2: for Extraterrestrial Intelligence LEE gives out a yearly Geodono Bruno
Speaker 2: Memorial Award to individuals contributing to the search for alien life,
Speaker 2: a nod to Bruno's championing of innumerable earths inhabited by
Speaker 2: living beings, and fittingly, a twenty two kilometer wide crater
Speaker 2: on the Moon's far sight is named Geodano Bruno, as
Speaker 2: are at least two asteroids Bruno's ideas, once condemned, now
Speaker 2: ride through space. Geodanno Bruno's legacy is multifaceted, spanning philosophy, science, literature,
Speaker 2: and even pop culture. Over the centuries since his death,
Speaker 2: he has been cast in various lights, heretic, martyr, visionary, madman.
Speaker 2: As one modern historian observed, history has not yet registered
Speaker 2: a stable appraisal for Geodano Bruno. Perceptions of Bruno were
Speaker 2: volatile enough in his lifetime many have remained polarized to
Speaker 2: this day. In the seventeenth century, Barokes Spinoza developed a
Speaker 2: pantheistic philosophy where God is the substance of the universe,
Speaker 2: a concept very much like Bruno's notion of an infinite
Speaker 2: God imminent in nature. It's known that Spinoza read earlier
Speaker 2: heterodotx thinkers. The similarity in their outlook is striking. Godfreed
Speaker 2: Wilhelm Leibniz too, may have been aware of Bruno's writings.
Speaker 2: Leibniz's theories of monads so like fundamental units of reality,
Speaker 2: is somewhat reminiscent of Bruno's metaphysical atoms or monads. Leibnez
Speaker 2: mentions Bruno in some correspondences, though critically. The German Idealis
Speaker 2: Shelling wrote an entire dialogue titled Bruno or on their
Speaker 2: Natural and Divine Principle of Things in eighteen oh two,
Speaker 2: inspired by Bruno's life and ideas. In the nineteenth century,
Speaker 2: as the Romantic movement glorified rebels and visionaries, Bruno became
Speaker 2: a hero of free thought. In Italy's Unification movement idolized
Speaker 2: Bruno as a martyr who died for truth against tyranny.
Speaker 2: For instance, the Italian nationalist philosopher Giuseppe Mazzini often cited
Speaker 2: Bruno as a guiding spirit of intellectual liberty. Bruno martyrdom
Speaker 2: resonated strongly with those seeking to challenge authoritarianism. The Catholic
Speaker 2: Church's reputation in the nineteenth century suffered in part because
Speaker 2: of high profile cases like Bruno's. He was held up
Speaker 2: as an example of the Church's persecution of science and thought.
Speaker 2: In eighteen eighty nine, when anti clerical and liberal intellectuals
Speaker 2: erected a monument to Bruno and Rome, it was an
Speaker 2: international cause. Delegations from across Europe attended the unveiling, and
Speaker 2: speeches praised Bruno as a symbol of rational enlightenment triumphanting
Speaker 2: over medieval obscurantism. This image of Bruno as a martyr
Speaker 2: of science and liberty persists in many popular accounts. The
Speaker 2: Catholic Church, on the other hand, has maintained a nuanced position.
Speaker 2: In nineteen forty two, the Vatican allowed a historian, Giovanni
Speaker 2: Murccatti to publish some of Bruno's trial documents, acknowledging the
Speaker 2: harshness of the execution but reaffirming that Bruno's theological errors
Speaker 2: were real. During the Millennial Jubilee year two thousand, Pope
Speaker 2: John Paul the Second and Cardinal Angelo Sodona expressed profound
Speaker 2: sorrow for the harm done by the Inquisition, including Bruno's burning. However,
Speaker 2: the Vaticans stopped short of rehabilitating Bruno's doctrines. Cardinal Sedano
Speaker 2: explicitly stated in two thousand that Bruno's idea were incompatible
Speaker 2: with Christian belief. Effectively, the Church regretted the use of violence,
Speaker 2: but did not retract Bruno's label as a heretic. Thus,
Speaker 2: Bruno remains a somewhat unresolved figure in Catholic memory. Unlike Gallileo,
Speaker 2: who has formally acknowledged as correct in his astronomy, Bruno's
Speaker 2: execution is often cited as a cautionary tale about religious intolerance. Today,
Speaker 2: he is regarded as an early advocate for intellectual freedom,
Speaker 2: a patron saint of free inquiry. Each year on February
Speaker 2: seventeenth in Rome, through organizations and citizens gather at Campo
Speaker 2: di Fiori under Bruno's monument to commemorate him and affirm
Speaker 2: the principle of freedom of expression. Bruno has also had
Speaker 2: an impact on modern alternative spiritualities. His blend of hermetic
Speaker 2: mysticism and cosmic vision inspired members of the nineteenth century
Speaker 2: Theosophical Society and other occult or New Age thinkers.
Speaker 1: To them.
Speaker 2: Bruno was a martyr of the ancient wisdom tradition. Madame Bolovotski,
Speaker 2: founder of Theosophy, mentioned Bruno as one of those who
Speaker 2: kept the flame of esoteric truth burning. Bruno's writing on
Speaker 2: Magic and the Soul influenced twentieth century scholars of Western
Speaker 2: esotericism like Francis Yates, whose book Geodano Bruno and the
Speaker 2: Hermetic Tradition from nineteen sixty four cassed Bruno as a
Speaker 2: central figure, linking Renaissance magic and the birth of modern
Speaker 2: science and Yeates's controversial thesis it was Bruno's hermetic imagination,
Speaker 2: his willingness to break the confines of classical thought, that
Speaker 2: helped open the way for scientific revolution. Why not all
Speaker 2: historians agree with Yates's emphasis, Her work certainly elevated Bruno's
Speaker 2: status in intellectual history and promoted deeper study of Renaissance
Speaker 2: and Coult philosophy. Today, Bruno is often referenced in discussions
Speaker 2: of pantheism and cosmic consciousness. For instance, some neo pagan
Speaker 2: and pantheist groups honor Bruno as a saint who saw
Speaker 2: God in nature. The term cosmic religion, used by thinkers
Speaker 2: like Einstein to describe as spirituality rooted in the wonder
Speaker 2: of the universe, could well include Bruno as a predecessor.
Speaker 2: Bruno's famous line that God is not in one part
Speaker 2: of the universe more than in another was a radical
Speaker 2: reimagining of the divine, and it echoes today in spiritual naturalism.
Speaker 2: Bruno's dramatic life and bold ideas have captivated many artists
Speaker 2: and writers. The nineteenth century poets were especially drawn to him.
Speaker 2: We have Algernon Charles Swinburne, the English poet who wrote
Speaker 2: a fiery poem The Monument of Giodano Bruno in eighteen
Speaker 2: eighty nine, on the occasion of Bruno's statue being erected
Speaker 2: in it. Swineburn hails Bruno as a hero of thought
Speaker 2: who foresaw a new age of reason. Another poet, Cheslau
Speaker 2: Maloes of Poland, wrote the poem Campo di Fiori in
Speaker 2: nineteen forty three during World War II, drawing a parallel
Speaker 2: between the indifference of people at Bruno's execution and the
Speaker 2: indifference of Warsaw citizens to the burning of the Jewish ghetto.
Speaker 2: Melos imagines how on that day in sixteen hundred, as
Speaker 2: Bruno burned, the market square was full of ordinary life,
Speaker 2: flower sellers, fruit vendors, oblivious to the tragedy, much as
Speaker 2: people in nineteen forty three Warsaw went about their lives
Speaker 2: while atrocities occurred. Bruno thus became a symbol in poetry
Speaker 2: for the loneliness of the victim and the callousness of society.
Speaker 2: James Joyce, one of the giants of twentieth century literature,
Speaker 2: was fascinated by Bruno's idea, particularly Bruno's concept of the
Speaker 2: coincidence of opposites. Bruno believed that opposites ultimately converge, very
Speaker 2: dialectical mystical notion. Joyce, in Finnigan's Wake in nineteen thirty nine,
Speaker 2: makes many allusions to Bruno, often in punting form. He
Speaker 2: even names a pair of characters, Brown and Nolan, slyly
Speaker 2: referencing Bruno the Nolan from Nola and playing on Brown
Speaker 2: and Nolan as a distortion of Bruno's name. In a letter,
Speaker 2: Joyce wrote, his philosophy is kind of a dualism. Every
Speaker 2: power in nature must evolve an opposite in order to
Speaker 2: realize itself, and opposition brings reunion. This Brunan and Hegelian
Speaker 2: idea underpins a lot of Joyce's complex wordplay in Finnigan's Wake.
Speaker 2: Joyce arguably saw himself and his work reflected in Bruno's
Speaker 2: incessant words splitting and joining. So Bruno has a discreet
Speaker 2: but significant presence in one of the most challenging novels
Speaker 2: of modernist literature. In the realm of fiction, Bruno has
Speaker 2: outright been a character. A notable example is the series
Speaker 2: of historical mystery novels by S. J. Parris, pseudonym of
Speaker 2: Stephanie Merrit, beginning with Heresy from twenty ten, which imagines
Speaker 2: Geodano Bruno as a sleuth solving murders in Elizabethan, England
Speaker 2: while on the run from the Inquisition. These books, blending
Speaker 2: fact and fiction, introduced Bruno to a wide popular audience
Speaker 2: as a sort of Renaissance detective, complete with his Nolan
Speaker 2: wit and learned tricks. Earlier, in nineteen seventy three, an
Speaker 2: Italian French film, Giodano Bruno was released, directed by Juliantiano
Speaker 2: Montaldo and starring giann Maria Valante as Bruno. The film
Speaker 2: portrays Bruno's wanderings and trials with considerable historical accuracy and
Speaker 2: his sympathetic lens. It emphasizes Bruno's defiance and shows scenes
Speaker 2: of him debating in venice and suffering in prison, culminating
Speaker 2: in a haunting execution scene. The film helped to humanize
Speaker 2: Bruno and won critical acclaim for Valente's passionate performance. In music,
Speaker 2: Bruno's words and story have also found expression. In eighteen
Speaker 2: seventy eight, the French composer Camille sant Sans composed and
Speaker 2: Oratio Laid Deluge, in which a section was reportedly inspired
Speaker 2: by Bruno's vision of the infinite universe. The German composer
Speaker 2: Hans Werna Hens, in nineteen sixty eight wrote a large
Speaker 2: choral piece New Praises of the Infinite, using Bruno's text
Speaker 2: as Lebeo. This piece, premiered in nineteen seventy is a
Speaker 2: cantata for chorus, orchestra and soloist that sets some of
Speaker 2: Bruno's Italian poems to music, praising the infinite universe in
Speaker 2: the divine found in nature. In the world of opera,
Speaker 2: contemporary composer Francesco Philadei premiered and Opera Giordano Bruno in
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen in Porto, Portugal. This opera dramatizes Bruno's trial,
Speaker 2: incorporating his actual words from trial records and writings, and
Speaker 2: reflecting on themes of free thought, effectively turning Bruno's life
Speaker 2: into a modern musical tragedy. Even popular music has a
Speaker 2: Bruno connection, and this from even one of my favorite
Speaker 2: songs one of my favorite bands. In twenty sixteen, the
Speaker 2: American rock band Avenged Sevenfold released a song called Roman
Speaker 2: Sky about Bruno's execution. The music video shows imagery of
Speaker 2: Bruno and clue Wud voiceovers about his life, presenting him
Speaker 2: as a martyr who looked at the stars. In heavy
Speaker 2: metal and progressive rock circles, Bruno's name occasionally appears. For instance,
Speaker 2: there's an Italian progressive rock band named Ilbaccio della Medusa
Speaker 2: with an album referencing Bruno. This shows how Bruno's narrative
Speaker 2: the man who saw the truth in the stars and
Speaker 2: was killed for it, has permeated various cultural niches. Bruno's
Speaker 2: confrontational style at Oxford meant he didn't win converts among
Speaker 2: English academics. However, Bruno's presence in England did leave some ripples.
Speaker 2: Bruno's dedication of two books to Philip Sidney suggests Sidney
Speaker 2: and his circle absorbed some of Bruno's ideas on ethics
Speaker 2: and the art of memory. Sidney's own writings on poetry
Speaker 2: and virtue, while not obviously Brunan, were about ennobling the
Speaker 2: soul a concept Bruno Champion. It's been speculated by some
Speaker 2: literary sk scholar that Bruno's visit might have indirectly influenced
Speaker 2: William Shakespeare. This is highly speculative, but some have noted
Speaker 2: that Shakespeare's late play The Tempest in sixteen eleven has
Speaker 2: an infinite magical cosmology and a character named Prospero, who,
Speaker 2: like Bruno, has a book of magic and is exiled
Speaker 2: by the Inquisition. Prospero is a magician duke based from Milan,
Speaker 2: which some read as an allegory partly referencing figures like
Speaker 2: Bruno or d.
Speaker 1: Francis.
Speaker 2: Yates argued that Bruno's visit influenced the development of the
Speaker 2: School of Knight, a shadowy group of English intellectuals like
Speaker 2: Sir Walter Raleigh, the mathematician Thomas Harriot, and perhaps Christopher Marlowe,
Speaker 2: who are interested in a cult philosophy and Copernican theory. Harriet,
Speaker 2: for instance, became one of the first telescopic astronomers in
Speaker 2: England and an advocate for Copernicus, and he actually observed
Speaker 2: the Moon with a telescope around the same time as Galileo.
Speaker 2: We have no evidence Bruno met Harriet, but its possible
Speaker 2: Bruno's Copernican zeal inspired those in Raleighs circle to take
Speaker 2: up the new astronomy. Some historians, however, cautioned that the
Speaker 2: School of Knight as a formal group is more legend
Speaker 2: than fact. Nonetheless, Bruno's English sojourn did plant seeds. It
Speaker 2: put advanced ideas into circulation, and proved that even in
Speaker 2: a Protestant land his radical brand of thinking was controversial.
Speaker 2: Remember that George Abbott, who lampooned Bruno's Copernicism, later played
Speaker 2: a role in the trial of Galileo. The chain of
Speaker 2: influence is indirect, but noteworthy. In modern times, Bruno's connection
Speaker 2: to England has been commemorated through fiction and through English
Speaker 2: translations of his works, which became available starting in the
Speaker 2: nineteenth century. The poet Percy by Shelley, an English Romantic,
Speaker 2: mentioned Bruno in his essay The Defense of Poetry as
Speaker 2: someone who paid the price for his genius. Shelley, a
Speaker 2: critic of religion, admired Bruno's defiance. Thus Bruno became part
Speaker 2: of the English Romantic imagination of the tragic persecuted genius.
Speaker 2: Bruno is often regarded by scholars as one of the
Speaker 2: last and boldest figures of the Italian Renaissance. He carried
Speaker 2: Renaissance platonism and hermeticism to their extreme logical conclusions and
Speaker 2: infantite cosmos an exalted role for human reasons, the unity
Speaker 2: of art and science, the breakdown of old authorities. In
Speaker 2: doing so, he also helped usher in the Early Modern age.
Speaker 1: Some call him an.
Speaker 2: Early modern for his cosmology and his assistance on following
Speaker 2: reason over doctrine. Others call him an ultra renaissance Man
Speaker 2: for his syncretic blending of disciplines. Bruno didn't invent a
Speaker 2: machine or a physical theory that directly led to an invention.
Speaker 2: What he did it did invent, in a sense, was
Speaker 2: a new way of thinking about the world, the universe
Speaker 2: as a liberated, infinite expanse governed by infinite divine laws,
Speaker 2: with an equivalently liberated human mind capable of grasping it.
Speaker 2: This expansive vision influenced how later people conceive the human
Speaker 2: place in the cosmos, arguably an invention of the modern mindset.
Speaker 2: Bruno's figurative fingerprints can be found in works of later
Speaker 2: inventors of ideas. For instance, Galileo knew of Bruno's fate
Speaker 2: and was cautious in how he presented Copernicism, but Galileo's
Speaker 2: writings occasionally echo Bruno's in seeing sunspots or mirrored stars
Speaker 2: as evidence against celestial perfection. Did Bruno influence Galileo directly
Speaker 2: unlikely in terms of content. Galileo did not need Bruno
Speaker 2: to adopt helio Centrism, but Bruno's martyrdom was a warning
Speaker 2: that Galileo until sixteen thirty three, when he even fell victim.
Speaker 2: In that respect, Bruno indirectly affected how scientific ideas were debated,
Speaker 2: the lesson being avoid theological entanglements or Bruno's end awaits
Speaker 2: in the Grand Scheme. Geodanno Bruno's life and work form
Speaker 2: a bridge between the Renaissance world of magic and the
Speaker 2: modern world of science. He was not fully of either,
Speaker 2: yet he partook of both. Today, the Geodanno Bruno Foundation
Speaker 2: in Germany carries his name as it advocates evolutionary humanism,
Speaker 2: a worldview combining scientific understanding with humanist ethics. This foundation,
Speaker 2: founded in two thousand and four, is explicitly anti dogmatic
Speaker 2: and uses Bruno's legacy as a rallying symbol for free
Speaker 2: thought and secularism. It funds projects and publications critiquing religious
Speaker 2: fundamentalism and promoting a scientific outlook on the world. If
Speaker 2: a sixteenth century monk could become the namesake of a
Speaker 2: twenty first century secular humanist organization, that testifies to the enduring.
Speaker 1: Power of Bruno's story.
Speaker 2: For centuries after his death, Geodano Bruno's ideas and fate
Speaker 2: still spark reflection and debate. He stands as a warning
Speaker 2: of the perils of suppressing ideas and as an inspiration
Speaker 2: to those who champion intellectual freedom. The bronze statue of
Speaker 2: Bruno and Rome's Campbeau di Fiori, erected in eighteen eighty nine,
Speaker 2: bears an inscription in Italian that reads, to Bruno the
Speaker 2: century predicted by him, hear where the fire burned. Those
Speaker 2: words capture how nineteenth century admirers saw him a man
Speaker 2: who foresaw the future. Indeed, Bruno foretold a coming error
Speaker 2: in which the infinite universe he imagined is largely accepted
Speaker 2: as reality, and the freedom to think he died for
Speaker 2: it is a core value. Giodao Bruno the Nolan, spent
Speaker 2: his life pursuing truth as he saw it, with the
Speaker 2: infinite universe as his guide. His lectures and debates took
Speaker 2: him across Europe. His wandering spread radical seeds in many soils.
Speaker 2: While he neither built telescopes nor formulated physics, Bruno ignited
Speaker 2: minds with the idea that the cosmos was boundless and
Speaker 2: that no authority should curtail the search for knowledge. That
Speaker 2: flame lit by Bruno's writings and by the example of
Speaker 2: his death, has never been extinguished. It continues to burn
Speaker 2: in our collective cultural memory as a symbol of courageous
Speaker 2: inquiry in the face of oppression. Bruno's universe was not
Speaker 2: mathematical like Galileo's or mechanical like Newton's. It was alive,
Speaker 2: soaked in divinity. He saw the stars not as cold
Speaker 2: fixed points, but as radiant souls whispering their secrets. He
Speaker 2: saw the magician not as a charlatan, but as the
Speaker 2: one who remembers the original language of the cosmos, the
Speaker 2: words before words. In Bruno's cosmos, to think was to invoke,
Speaker 2: to imagine was to create, and to love the infinite
Speaker 2: was the highest form of madness. We walk now in
Speaker 2: the future. He foretold with the stars accountless, the planet's
Speaker 2: many in the center no longer hours, but even in
Speaker 2: our age of dark matter and data, his voice still speaks.
Speaker 2: It challenges us to remember what's been forgotten, That the
Speaker 2: pursuit of truth is holy, that the universe is stranger
Speaker 2: than doctrine, and that fire cannot kill a soul in
Speaker 2: love with the infinite. So did the memory of Geodano Bruno,
Speaker 2: Dominican defector, cosmic visionary, heretic, and martyr. We dedicate this
Speaker 2: episode to canonize him, but to summon him back to
Speaker 2: the circle, because in the echo of the flames beneath
Speaker 2: the dome of endless Stars, we find him still speaking,
Speaker 2: and we're still listening.