Kepler's Philosophy and the New Astronomy Hardcover - 2000

First line

Kepler's life was marked by personal misfortune, social instability, and intellectual fertility.

From the rear cover

"This is a work of marked originality. It shows an impressive technical command of the relevant philosophical, mathematical, and astronomical issues, together with sensitivity as a reader with an eye for significant detail."--Nicholas Jardine, Cambridge University

"In this comprehensive investigation of Kepler's 'archetypes', ideal principles that form the foundation of his astronomy and cosmology, Rhonda Martens shows that they are hardly curiosities or aberrations, but are essential to understanding Kepler's plan for a definitive astronomy and cosmology, based upon his certainty that the universe was set out in a strictly rational way by a strictly rational God. Since the archetypes are found throughout his work, this book, written with great clarity, is also an excellent survey of Kepler's astronomy in general, including its physics and mathematics. Further, Martens, a bright young star in the history and philosophy of science, shows that Kepler was also the most thoughtful and profound of philosophers, anticipating by more than three centuries many of the most important principles of the philosophy of science of our own age."--Noel M. Swerdlow, University of Chicago