From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe

2018 Reprint of 1958 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a radical change occurred in the patterns and the framework of European thought. In the wake of discoveries through the telescope and Copernican theory, the notion of an ordered cosmos of "fixed stars" gave way to that of a universe infinite in both time and space—with significant and far-reaching consequences for human thought. Alexandre Koyré interprets this revolution in terms of the change that occurred in our conception of the universe and our place in it and shows the primacy of this change in the development of the modern world. Contents: Sky and the heavens -- New astronomy and the new metaphysics -- New astronomy against the new metaphysics -- Things never seen before and thoughts never thought: the discovery of new stars in the world space and the materialization of space -- Indefinite extension or infinite space -- God and space, spirit and matter -- Absolute space, absolute time and their relations to god -- Divinization of space -- God and the world: space, matter, ether, and spirit -- Absolute space and absolute time: god's frame of action -- Work-day god and the god of the sabbath – Conclusion.