Johannes Kepler: The Order Of Things

Description

This book traces the development of Kepler’s ideas along with his unsteady wanderings in a world dominated by religious turmoil. Johannes Kepler, like Galileo, was a supporter of the Copernican heliocentric world model. From an early stage, his principal objective was to discover “the world behind the world”, i.e. to identify the underlying order and the secrets that make the world function as it does: the hidden world harmony. Kepler was driven both by his religious belief and Greek mysticism, which he found in ancient mathematics. His urge to find a construct encompassing the harmony of every possible aspect of the world – including astronomy, geometry and music – is seen as a manifestation of a deep human desire to bring order to the apparent chaos surrounding our existence. This desire continues to this day as we search for a theory that will finally unify and harmonise the forces of nature. Preface......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 1 Introduction......Page 10 This Book......Page 11 2 The Order of Things......Page 12 Esthetics......Page 16 Homeostasis......Page 17 Gestalt......Page 18 Mythology......Page 19 Communication......Page 20 Power......Page 21 Benefit and Values......Page 22 Peers......Page 24 Events Shaping Kepler’s Life and Thoughts......Page 25 The Holy Roman Empire......Page 27 World View......Page 29 4 Childhood and Youth......Page 31 Weil der Stadt......Page 32 Further Education......Page 34 Pythagoras......Page 35 Maestlin......Page 36 Nicolas Cusanus......Page 37 Leaving Tubingen......Page 38 5 Graz......Page 39 Prognostica......Page 41 The Quantization of the Solar System......Page 42 Euclid......Page 43 Mysterium Cosmographicum......Page 45 Galileo Galilei [16]......Page 47 Tycho Brahe......Page 54 Bad Omens and the Counter-Reformation in Graz......Page 56 Mars......Page 58 Prague......Page 59 Force......Page 61 Gravitation......Page 62 Astronomia Nova......Page 63 Telescopes......Page 66 Cosmic Harmony and the Mind......Page 68 Endgame in Prague......Page 69 Truth......Page 70 Linz......Page 71 Bernegger......Page 72 Point of Origin and Chronology......Page 73 The Heretic......Page 74 Credo......Page 78 Witch Hunt......Page 79 Harmonices Mundi......Page 80 Kepler’s Three Laws......Page 84 Confusion and Continued Creativity......Page 85 Tabulae Rudolphinae......Page 87 Wallenstein......Page 90 Astrology......Page 93 Wallenstein’s Death......Page 95 Sagan......Page 96 Regensburg......Page 98 Mach and Others......Page 99 Newton......Page 100 Max Planck......Page 102 Albert Einstein......Page 103 Subjectivity and Objectivity......Page 104 Deconstruction......Page 106 Riddles......Page 108 Rebuilding Harmony......Page 109 What About the Music?......Page 112 The Limits of the World......Page 113 11 Conclusions......Page 115 John Nash......Page 116 Kepler’s Legacy......Page 117 Back to Square One?......Page 119 Johannes Kepler’s Complete Works......Page 121 Timeline......Page 124 References......Page 127 Name Index......Page 129 Subject Index......Page 133