Cosmological Ideas of Johannes Kepler in Their Relation to Antiquity Based on the Treatise Harmonices Mundi

Article
Open Access
by Sergii Rudenko1 and Mariia Lastovets2
1 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine)
2 Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/31/9
Received: 5 July 2023 / Accepted: 30 July 2023 / Published: 15 October 2023

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Abstract

The article presents the results of the authors’ research on the cosmological views of Johannes Keppler in his Latin treatise Harmonices Mundi. The authors discuss the background of composing the treatise concerning the philosophical, religious, and cultural contexts of that period, and give a brief overview of the structure of the treatise, Kepler’s theory and his third law of harmony. The paper demonstrates the connection and reception of philosophical ideas on the harmony of the world in Kepler’s treatise and ancient philosophers, such as Pythagoras, Plato, and Proclus. This shows that Kepler’s philosophical and scientific views largely depended on his theological background. The authors discuss the perception of ancient cosmological ideas in Kepler’s Harmonices Mundi relating to Pythagorean tetractys, five Platonic solids or regular polyhedral, and cosmic harmony as well as Proclus’ theoretical mathematics.

Keywords: Kepler, Harmonices Mundi, cosmology, philosophy, harmony, universe, mathematics, astronomy

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Rudenko, Sergii and Mariia Lastovets (2023) Cosmological Ideas of Johannes Kepler in Their Relation to Antiquity Based on the Treatise Harmonices Mundi. Philosophy and Cosmology, Volume 31, 108-115. https://doi.org/10.29202/phil-cosm/31/9
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