"Cosmic Infinity Theory"

Bruno has the idea of ????"mind-universe", so he believes that the universe should be infinite, because our human imagination is also infinite. It is in this sense that he criticized the "geocentric" cosmology based on Aristotle. This is because the "geocentric theory" has such a philosophical premise: the universe is a huge "self-operating" organism, and its outermost periphery should be the orbit of the "supreme sun", and the other stars will not exceed this range, or just within this range. Range left and right - meaning the universe is a "finite existence". Copernicus' theory broke the traditional "geocentric" picture of the universe: the sun is the center and the other planets surround it. This may mean that beyond the orbits of these planets, there may be more other planets and " Star”!

March 12, 2000 AD, is the Catholic Church’s “Day of Pardon” (Day of Pardon), which is used to remind people to reflect on themselves. In Vatican City, Pope John Paul II did something unprecedented - he delivered a speech called "Mea Culpa" (Mea Culpa), asking God to Forgive the church for the mistakes it has made over the past two thousand years. In particular, the "violent means" used by the church were mentioned, namely the Crusades and the Inquisition.

What is quite memorable is that there is a statue of Giordano Bruno in Campo dei Fiori, a short distance away from the Vatican City. He died during the Inquisition and was burned at the stake.

However, regarding the reason for his punishment, most people probably still have the impression that Bruno, like Copernicus and Galileo, was a defender of the heliocentric theory. . Or, to go further, Bruno is a martyr of science, and his death means "religion's suppression and persecution of science."

It should be noted that the formation of such a historical view has objective limitations: on the one hand, previous research on Bruno has been limited by insufficient historical data - Napoleon sent a large number of Vatican documents to Paris made cardboard boxes, including the trial of Bruno. Later, researchers rediscovered these materials from the archives of the Inquisition in Venice and the private collection of Pope Pius IX; on the one hand, since the rational Enlightenment movement that began in the seventeenth century, people have been Bruno considered Galileo a forerunner. Another great astronomer, Johannes Kepler, criticized Galileo's "weakness", which also contributed to Bruno's "heroic" image.

In fact, in the 19th century, Bruno was still regarded as a free-thinking civilian pioneer rather than a scientist, who was used to oppose the aristocratic politics and religious authority of the time.

However, as the famous contemporary Renaissance researcher Frances A. Yeats proved, with the rediscovery of historical materials, people’s inherent image of Bruno in their minds should change. .

For example, in "A History of the Science-Theology Controversy" written by Andrew Dickson White, there is this passage:

This new truth (Author's note: Cobel Ni's theory) cannot be concealed; neither a smile of rejection nor a frown of suppression can have any effect on it. Many have accepted it, but only one voice within earshot of the Roman Pontiff seems to have dared to express this truth clearly. This new warrior is that weirdo Giordano Bruno. He was chased from one place to another, and ended in a terrible verbal dispute with his pursuers. For this he was trapped in Venice, imprisoned for six years in the dungeons of the Inquisition in Rome, and finally burned alive, his ashes scattered to the wind.

This passage seems indeed thrilling, as if the whole of Europe is covered with the "Gestapo" of the church. No matter where he goes, Bruno is always in danger of being arrested. However, such a passage ignores the complex situation in Europe at the time.

At that time, during the "Reformation Movement", the religious landscape of Europe had long been fragmented, and the struggle between Protestants and Catholics was in full swing: In Germany, the birthplace of this movement, Martin Luther ) and his followers became the "Lutheran" church; in France, the contradiction between the Huguenots and the Catholics intensified, and even triggered the "religious wars" (les Guerres de religion); in England, in Under Queen Elizabeth I, the Anglican Church also broke away from Catholicism. In addition, in Prague, the "capital" of the Holy Roman Empire of the Habsburg dynasty at that time, Emperor Rudolf II, a famous religious tolerant, gathered a group of religious reformers, Catholics and Jews.

Although he had some knowledge of astronomy, this was more due to his education experience in the Dominicans. Among the education he received, one of them was "astronomy". Additionally, there is indeed evidence that Bruno possessed Copernicus’ astronomical manuscripts! Yes, the handwritten manuscript written by Copernicus.

However, when he read this manuscript, he did not know whether it was because of the handwriting or the Latin. In short, he misread a word, which led him to misunderstand it. Copernicus's theory of the "Earth-Moon System". Copernicus believed that the moon revolves around the earth, and the earth revolves around the sun; Bruno believed that Copernicus' theory was that the earth and the moon were in the same orbit, revolving around the sun!

Although it does not affect his overall philosophical doctrine, it is difficult to say that he has seriously verified Copernicus' "heliocentric theory", otherwise such a low-level error would not be possible.

Of course, among the eight accusations made against him by the Inquisition in the future, one of them did have something to do with the "heliocentric theory", but it is difficult to say that it was an accusation specifically against the "heliocentric theory"... So what is this crime?

In the Bible Ecclesiastes, there is this sentence: "The sun rises, the sun sets, and it hurries back to the place where it rose." The church at the time believed that this was support for the "geocentric theory" evidence. Bruno did not agree with this statement, but he also did not think that it had any direct relationship with the "heliocentric theory". He might even think that this sentence did not express "astronomy" content! He believes that this is a poetic expression that is intended to tell people that "the world is always changing."