Giordano Bruno Biography
Giordano Bruno biography, outline: Italian philosopher & astronomer, born 1548 died 1600.
Giordano Bruno biography - early life
Giordano Bruno was the son of a soldier. In 1562 Bruno went to Naples to study the humanities. The lectures of G.V. de Colle impressed him. de Colle was heavily influenced by the Muslim philosopher Averroes, who in turn was heavily influenced by Aristotle.
Giordano Bruno biography - from student to excommunicant
In 1565 Bruno entered the Dominican convent of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples and in 1572 was ordained as a priest but continued his study of theology at the convent until 1575. This left Bruno annoyed at theological subtleties. He read Erasmus and freely discussed the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. The father of his order prepared a trial for heresy against him, and he fled to Rome in February 1576. There he was unjustly accused of murder and a second excommunication process began. He abandoned the Dominican Order and eventually in 1578 moved to Geneva and worked as a proof-reader.
Bruno embraced Calvinism but found the Reformed Church no less intolerant than the Catholic. Arrested, excommunicated, rehabilitated after retraction--he left Geneva, became a lecturer in philosophy in France, first in Toulouse, then (in 1581) in Paris. Here Bruno at last found a congenial place to work.
In Paris there was strife between the Catholics and the Huguenots (French Protestants), but the court of Henry III was dominated by Politiques (moderate Catholics, sympathizers of Henry of Bourbon, protestant King of Navarre.) Bruno's attitude fitted that of the Politiques, and he received the protection of the French king, and was appointed a lecteurs royaux.
In 1582 Bruno published several philosophical works and a satirical comedy, Il Candelaio ("The Candlemaker"), against moral and social corruption.
In 1583 Bruno moved to England. In Oxford he lectured on Copernican theory and maintained that the Earth moved. The hostile reception of this thesis drove him back to London under the protection of the French ambassador. In the court of Elizabeth I he found a congenial reception from Sir Philip Sidney and Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester.
Giordano Bruno biography - dialogues
Between 1584 and 1585 Bruno created his six Italian dialogues, the first systematic exposition of his philosophy. Three dialogues were on scientific cosmology, the others on morality. In Cena de le Ceneri ("The Ash Wednesday Supper"), he reaffirmed the heliocentric theory but added the novel idea that the universe is infinite and composed of innumerable solar systems. He anticipated Galileo Galilei in suggesting that the Bible should be used for moral teaching, but not used as an astronomical textbook.
In the De la causa, principio e uno ("Concerning the Cause, Principle, and One") he suggested that "form" and "matter" are united in the "one", thereby denying the dualism of Aristotelian physics. He suggested a basic unity of all substances and the coincidence of opposites in the infinite unity of Being. I
In De l'infinito universo e mondi ("On the Infinite Universe and Worlds"), he followed Averroes in suggesting that religion provides the means to instruct and govern ignorant people--philosophy is for those who can behave themselves and govern others.
The Spaccio de la bestia trionfante ("The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast") criticizes the Calvinistic principle of salvation by faith alone. Bruno opposed this with his view of the dignity of all human activities.
The Cabala del cavallo Pegaseo ("Cabal of the Horse Pegasus"), discusses the relationship between the human and universal soul, suggesting the ultimate lack of individuality in the human soul.
The De gli eroici furori ("The Heroic Frenzies") uses Neoplatonic imagery to discuss the attainment of human union with the One.
Giordano Bruno biography - burned at stake
In 1585 Bruno returned to Paris. But Henry III had turned against the Protestants, and the King of Navarre had been excommunicated. In 1586 he attacked Aristotle and Catholic views in Centum et viginti articuli de natura et mundo adversus Peripateticos ("120 Articles on Nature and the World Against the Peripatetics"). The Politiques rejected him, Bruno left Paris for Germany. He lectured and published minor in several universities. His Articuli centum et sexaginta ("160 Articles") expounded a theory of the peaceful coexistence of religions based upon freedom of discussion. At Helmstedt in January 1589 he was excommunicated by the local Lutheran Church. He remained in Helmstedt, developing in writing his ideas on the atomic basis of matter and being.
In 1590, he moved to Frankfurt am Main to find publishers. There he resided in the Carmelite convent, lecturing to Protestant thinkers. The Prior suggested that he, "did not possess a trace of religion".In 1591 Bruno returned to Italy with a view to attaining the vacant chair of mathematics at the University of Padua. Religious tolerance was in the air after the death of pope Sixtus V and the attainment of the throne of France by protestant Henry of Bourbon. In Padua he composed gave lectures on Geometry that became published works. But the chair was offered to Galileo in 1592.
Bruno moved to Venice as the guest of progressive Venetian aristocrats who favoured philosophical investigation irrespective of theological implications.
But his host, Giovanni Mocenigo, was disappointed by his lessons and denounced him to the Venetian Inquisition
for heresy. The much stricter Roman Inquisition demanded Bruno's extradition, and
he was taken to the jail of the Roman palace of the Sant'Uffizio (Holy Office).
His trial lasted seven-year. Bruno disclaimed any interest in theology,
stressing that his ideas were philosophical. This did not satisfy the inquisitors, who demanded
unconditional retraction. Pope Clement VIII ordered that he be sentenced o death
as a heretic and on Feb. 8, 1600, he was formally sentenced, and soon after he was brought to the Campo de'
Fiori and burned alive at the stake.
Bruno's influence
Bruno rejected the idea that the Earth was at the centre of the universe. He agreed with Nicholas Copernicus that the Sun, not the Earth, was the centre of the Solar System. But Copernicus believed the universe was finite and contained a sphere of fixed stars. Giordano Bruno rejected this, believing in an infinite universe containing a multiplicity of worlds on which life could be found.
These ideas influenced many scientists between his time and the present day, but it is as a symbol of the freedom of thought that Bruno has provided the greatest inspiration.
Giordano Bruno biography -further reading
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