Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance: Reception, Legacy, Transformation (History of Science and Medicine Library / Medieval and Early)

In "Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance," Pietro Daniel Omodeo presents a general overview of the reception of Copernicus s astronomical proposal from the years immediately preceding the publication of "De revolutionibus" (1543) to the Roman prohibition of heliocentric hypotheses in 1616. Relying on a detailed investigation of early modern sources, the author systematically examines a series of issues ranging from computation to epistemology, natural philosophy, theology and ethics. In addition to offering a pluralistic and interdisciplinary perspective on post-Copernican astronomy, the study goes beyond purely cosmological and geometrical issues and engages in a wide-ranging discussion of how Copernicus s legacy interacted with European culture and how his image and theories evolved as a result."