The creation and manipulation of infinite images is central to Bruno's thought, but to the best of my knowledge, this has never been properly treated before. This project is a departure from much of the current scholarship on Bruno which has focused on his contribution to scientific thought, and downplayed or ignored the Hermetic and magical elements which pervade his work. Each chapter deals with different works of Bruno, and different aspects of his philosophy, and each is rooted in the larger project of uncovering the role, meaning, and application of images in Bruno's thought. / The general arc of the thesis is from the interior and personal to the cosmological and metaphysical. Chapter 1 begins with a study of the faculty of phantasy and the role of images on human cognition. This is Bruno's epistemology and anthropology as expressed in Imaginum. Chapter 2 covers the ethical and social applications of images, and how the control of images manipulates reality. This concept is represented in the reconstruction of the universe in The Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast. Chapter 3 deals with the physics---or mechanics---of his philosophy, with its roots in Hermetic magic as described in Vinculis and Magia, wherein images are used to create bonds. Chapter 4 addresses Bruno's cosmology, which adopts the Copernican model and reinterprets that model as a hieroglyph. It is the heuristic key in Ash Wednesday Supper, the image of which exists in the faculty of phantasy and becomes embedded on to the universe. The two become indistinguishable and work in union. Through the coincidence of opposites, matter becomes form and God becomes man. The image of the infinite cosmos becomes re-embedded in the single instance of an image in the faculty of Phantasy. / The conclusion will bring together these epistemological, ethical, mechanical, cosmological, and metaphysical strains of Bruno's philosophy into a statement on the Brunian reformation as he saw it, and on the contemporary relevance of his theory and application of images.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102846 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Storch, Michael. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Religious Studies.) |
| Rights | © Michael Storch, 2007 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002611620, proquestno: AAINR32327, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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