Cyrano de Bergerac´s Space Voyage: Copernican Cultural Paradigms in
Early Modern Science-Fiction
Universidad de La Salle
Bogotá D.C, Colombia, 2019
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
Director de Tesis: Doctor Germán Ulises Bula Caraballo
Monografía de Pregrado:
David Stephen Aronson Cerezo
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 Ptolemaic World System
1.1 Pre-Copernican Astronomical Instruments.......................................................................... 5
2.2 Ptolemaic Trigonometry and Astral Maps ........................................................................... 7
2.3 Aristotelian Geocentrism and Astronomical Models ......................................................... 10
Chapter 2 Copernican World System
2.1 Copernicanism and the Rejection of Geocentrism ............................................................. 12
2.2 Spatial Symmetry and Uniformity....................................................................................... 15
2.3 Giordano Bruno’s Idea of Infinite Space ............................................................................ 18
Chapter 3 Bergerac´s Science-Fiction
3.1 Space Flight and VTTM ....................................................................................................... 22
3.2 Science-Fiction Optimism ..................................................................................................... 25
3.3 Human Intelligence and Alien Species ................................................................................ 27
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 31
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 34
Para mi abuela Blanca, un abrazo lleno de gratitud y amor, por lo que me ha empujado a lograr un
futuro a partir del esfuerzo y la educación. Con lo que me has dado espero buscar algo más grande
en la vida, y sin ti nunca hubiera llegado a este punto. Gracias por pensar en mi bienestar y
mostrarme un bueno camino para seguir en la vida.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Para mi madre y padre, Clavia y Harvey, con tenerlos en mi vida he tenido el privilegio de estar
rodeado por unos espíritus libre pensantes que me han infundido la paciencia, la humildad, la
alegría de la crítica, la rebeldía, y el buen humor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Para mi director de tesis, el doctor Germán Bula bajo su tutoría, con su liderazgo firme para esta
propuesta de investigación, se ha llevado a la culminación una gran idea que empezó con la
sugestión de estudiar la ciencia-ficción desde sus cimientos en la cultura pre-Copernicana.
"And for my part, Gentlemen," said I, "that I may put in for a share, and guess with the rest; not to
amuse myself with those curious notions wherewith you tickle and spur on slow-paced time; I
believe, that the Moon is a world like ours, to which this of ours serves likewise for a moon."
(Cyrano de Bergerac, A Voyage to the Moon)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
¨Looking at the moon, the convert to Copernicanism does not say, "I used to see a planet, but now
I see a satellite." That locution would imply a sense in which the Ptolemaic system had once been
correct. Instead, a convert to the new astronomy says, "I once took the moon to be (or saw the
moon as) a planet, but I was mistaken.¨
(Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions)
Introduction
Cyrano de Bergerac, French libertine author, wrote the science-fiction novel Voyage to the
Moon1 (henceforth VTTM), published posthumously in 1657. The story describes an unnamed
protagonist who seeks to travel to the Moon to locate extra-terrestrials who had once visited the
Earth. The narrative starts as the protagonist randomly opens a book in his private library written
by Cardanus, the fictionalized figure of Jerome Cardan, 16th century astrologer, demonologist and
natural philosopher. Cardanus has met these aliens beforehand, and has written a chronicle about
them detailing the information of their place of origin. After finding and reading the chronicle in
his own library, the protagonist invents his own propulsion technique to reach the Moon and
corroborate if Cardanus´s chronicle is true or false.
In VTTM, after arriving to the Moon and being taken in as a guest by the aliens, one of them
informs the protagonist that he has visited the Earth before. The alien knows a great deal about
human culture, and has even lived among humans at times. The revelation of alien knowledge of
human affairs amounts to a commentary on the limits of human experience, positing that aliens are
at the highest rung of a cosmic hierarchy of intelligent organisms, and portraying human science
and culture as inferior to the alien´s culture and science:
¨…Beast-like men, catching hold of me by the neck, just as wolves do when they
carry 'away Sheep, tossed me upon his back, and brought me into their town
…when I knew they were Men,…when these people saw that I was so little, (for
most of them are twelve cubits long) and that I walked only upon two legs, they
could not believe me to be a man.¨ (Bergerac, VTTM: pg. 33)
1
The original title in translation is The Other World: Comical History of the States and Empires of the Moon. We will
be using the translated title from the 1889 re-publication by Doubleday and Mcclure Co.
1
VTTM portrays the rather novel idea (made possible in part by new scientific developments) of
the possibility of alien civilizations on other heavenly bodies; this idea, in turn, relates to intriguing
new perspectives for humanity´s place in the cosmos. Before the belief in aliens was widespread,
as it is today, to think of life outside Earth was the result of believing in new ideas, like
heliocentrism, in a way that was not determined by contemporary cultural values.
Science-fiction, as a genre of modern literature, explores heretofore unknown possibilities of
modern science and technology. This paper explores two features of Cyrano´s work in a wider
cultural context: (1) the possibility of space flight and (2) the possibility alien life. These will show
how the work is part of an important cultural moment in early modernity when the idea of sciencefiction became possible in early European humanism. We can call Bergerac´s work science fiction,
avant la lettre, because it is a literary exploration of the possibilities of technology, based on the
cutting edge science of his time (what would then be called “natural philosophy” 2). VTTM alludes
to the development of heliocentrism by giving a description of life on other planets, as well as
detailing a physically feasible device for reaching planets outside Earth.
We will look at the relationship between VTTM´s significance as a work of fiction, and the
paradigm shift in astronomy and culture to be developed later, an object crucial to our inquiry, to
examine why scientific innovation and cultural production are interrelated. To this end, we will use
Thomas Kuhn´s concept of the paradigm, both in its original narrow sense as a structure for
scientific revolutions, and in a sense that includes culture. Kuhn used the term ´paradigm´ to refer
exclusively to scientific fields and their historical accumulation of knowledge in The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions (1963). Others like Fritjof Capra in The Systems View of Life (2014) and
2
See; Dear, Peter What is the History of Science the History of? Early Modern Roots of the Ideology of Modern
Science.
2
Clifford Geertz in The Interpretation of Cultures (1973), have used the term in a broader cultural
sense.
Bergerac’s libertine science-fiction is a literary work that contributes to the rise of the newly
minted natural sciences and liberal arts, in Europe, during the 17th century. VTTM´s science-fiction
story provides an interpretation of heliocentric astronomy, originating from the publication of
Nicholas Copernicus´s De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium in 1543. Later, the Copernican
theory was developed in the works of Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Christopher Huygens and
Isaac Newton; as well as with philosophical works by Giordano Bruno, Rene Descartes, Tommaso
Campanella and Bergerac´s own teacher, Pierre Gassendi. In contrast, Claudius Ptolemy´s
astronomical body of work validates the general worldview of geocentrism, which refers to the
Ptolemaic world system3, which, as I hope to show, is both a scientific model, and a broader cultural
view.
This analysis of Bergerac´s cultural paradigm shift will be developed in the following manner:
i. Chapter 1 is devoted to the Ptolemaic world system. The cosmological and astronomical model
of geocentrism will be explained in relation to the Ptolemaic world system´s astrological and
physical perspective. Aristotle´s philosophy will be used as an example of how the cosmos was
assumed to exist in a pre-Copernican worldview.
Thomas Kuhn´s work on Ptolemy will be introduced in this chapter to analyze how astrology
contains a cosmological aspect of geocentric astronomy. Our aim is to reconstruct the astronomical
3
Galileo´s work Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) introduces Copernicus´s and Ptolemy´s
astronomical work, each as its own ´world system´.
3
model of geocentrism from this chapter onwards so as to clearly see how the knowledge of
astronomy factors into the possibility of visiting inhabited worlds.
ii. Chapter 2 treats the Copernican world system analyzing the problem of the establishment of
the heliocentric planetary system. The implication of a rotating and orbiting Earth, will be looked
to as a solution for the problem of geocentrism´s model of the Earth´s physical attributes. From
here, we will be delving into the culture of astronomical model which upturned the established
geocentric paradigm.
In this chapter we look clarify how Copernicus came to posit that planets exist in heliocentric
space, by hypothesizing the nature of moving planetary masses in space. Giordano Bruno´s work
on the plurality of words will be introduced to analyze cultural Copernicanism in a 17th century
perspective, as it is similar to Bergerac´s heliocentric science-fiction, in the sense that the
possibility of life on other planets represents a contemporary cultural view.
iii. Chapter 3 will treat Bergerac´s novel, and its sequel, and focus on the relation between physical
and astronomical concepts i.e, mass, motion, uniformity, which are related to the speculation of
space travel outside Earth. An exposition of the alien races and environments is useful to explain
the context of Bergerac´s views on natural science, and to bring up the issue of human humility in
relation to the possibility of discovering intelligent non-human consciousness.
Science-fiction motifs, like space travel and alien worlds, contribute to the progress of the
natural sciences and liberal arts, and stimulates the cultural production of the Copernican cultural
paradigm. In relation to this, we will briefly touch on the subject of space travel as it relates to early
modern optimism, as reflected, as an example, in Picco della Mirandola´s views on the possibility
of the transformation of humanism into new forms of imagination.
4
1.1 Pre-Copernican Astronomical Instruments
The influence of the Sun, Moon’s and zodiac´s motion, the shift of seasons and different hours
of the day, has been studied by astrologers to observe terrestrial bodies’ relationships to the celestial
proportions of space. The confirmation of the position of stars, to a Hellenic astrologer (Tester,
(1987)), is an exercise which is based in the measurement of time 4, aiding the seeking good fortune
in everyday human existence. Astrology has its origin in Babylon, and is traced to Greece starting
in the 4th century B.C.E.
The sun-dial (Figure 1) uses daylight to calculate time from the geometrical plane of the Earth´s
surface, by way of making subdivisions of the full day and night into hours, relating them to other
units of time that vary throughout the course of
one year. The gnomon at the center of the sundial, a shadow caster, marks time using
numerical ratios that correspond to astronomical
lines running through the Earth´s horizon; a
fixed, geocentric circle of the length of a
diameter, partly below the surface, and pointing
away at the celestial firmament around Earth.
Figure 1. Portable Sun-dial found in Qumran.
(The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, © Peter Lanyi)
4
The social aspects of astrology are separate from their value as predictive models. See; Riley, Mark (1987): p. 242.
5
The armillary sphere, also known as an astrolabe5, (Figure 2) could point to the position of a
celestial body describing the same line of sight, extended into the heavens and displaced from the
circular plane of reference of the Earth´s horizon. These tools represented a feasible astrological
mechanism for obtaining measurements; and of obtaining the astral position of any stars´
displacement above the Earth´s horizon, from a stationary point marking the Earth´s astrological
center.
Figure 2.
1. Ecliptic sighting ring.
2. Altitude sighting line.
3. North-South ecliptic
ring.
4. East-West equatorial
ring.
5. Secondary altitudinal
sighting ring.
6. Meridional sight line.
Diagram for
Construction of
Astrolabe
(Taken from
Almagest Tran.
Toomer (1984))
b, b. Sighting holes.
d, d. Pivots marking
meridian line.
e, e. Pivots marking
ecliptic poles.
Astrologers studied the Earth´s sky, and the position of astral bodies using mechanistic tools,
during the first centuries before the first millennium (Wright, (2000)). They believed that the
heavens were moving perpetually in circles thought to exist outwards from a heavenly center,
which refers to the Earth´s surface as if it were poised atop a single axis of motion. An astronomical
geometric plane marks the Earth´s equinoctial points (Couprie, (2013)), determining the changing
of seasons. By evaluating geosynchronous lines of motion inscribed on the celestial firmament, a
single point of reference is revealed under the influence of other heavenly bodies´ mass and
motion6, with instruments that measure the geometrical displacement of matter around Earth.
5
Hipparchus may have invented the astrolabe, also called an armillary sphere. See also, Ptolemy, (1984): p. 217-219.
There are theoretical and practical aspects to astrology which require the use of astronomical models: See; Ptolemy,
(1882): Book I. Chapter I-II.
6
6
1.2 Ptolemaic Trigonometry and Astral Maps
The Ptolemaic astronomical system, proper, is revealed in the book known as the Almagest. The
name means ´The Greatest´; which was given to the text by Arabic translators who changed the
original title from Mathēmatikē Syntaxis; iconizing the eminence it held at the time as a milestone
for culture. Ptolemy, astronomer and philosopher from Alexandria, during the 2nd century C.E,
believed in a spherical globe model of Earth and heavens. He posits a spherical globe Earth, which
does not rotate on its own axis nor revolve around any other spherical object7 about its horizon; a
circle of the Earth´s surface that is a fixed, and visualized in relation to physical objects on Earth,
from a point of reference marking the celestial firmament influence over the terrestrial surface.
The astronomical plane of Earth is traversing an astronomical position in relation to the
observation of the horizon´s plane from the Earth, staring out at the same portion of sky at all times.
The basic terms used to mark a trigonometrically observed point in the sky from the Earth´s horizon
are the zenith, the line directly above one´s head from the horizon; the nadir, the line leading below
one´s feet through the horizon. And declination, the angular velocity where a star is moving,
marking distance moved in space according to the observer´s place, as a moving circle atop the
Earth´s center.
Other planets also have longitude and latitude, the mean lines on an astronomical plane of
motion, relative to Earth´s center and its surface shape. The celestial sphere is only partly visible
from the Earth’s horizon. The portion that is occluded by the Earth´s surface will come into view
7
The computation of motion and position for objects around Earth is formulated as geocentric model. See: Washburn,
Alan R. Orbital Dynamics for the Compleat Idiot.
7
during certain time periods, but is blocked in space by the other side of the Earth´s stationary
diameter.
Geocentric Circle of
Longitude
Figure 3.
Taken from: Glen Van
Brummelen ¨Taking
latitude with
Ptolemy: Jamshīd alKāshī's Novel
Geometric Model of
Motions¨ (2006)
Q. Equant.
C. Deferent eccentric circle
centrum (P, C, E, Q)
E. Earth (Zenith, and Nadir
of E and Altitude of P are
measured from the prime
meridian).
A. Diameter of Deferent.
P. Planet.
G. Epicycle circle of P.
Cm. Mean Motion of
Epicycle P.
Am. Mean motion of
Anomaly of G.
Av. True motion of
Anomaly of G.
In Ptolemaic trigonometry, an equant point (Figure 3) is below the Earth´s surface, slightly away
from its center (Ptolemy, (1984): p. 41-43). The cosmos is believed by Ptolemy to be characterized
by the cosmos´s primary motion, which goes unceasingly from east to west carrying the heavenly
spheres every hour of the day and night, and for seasonal changes (Ptolemy, (1984): p. 38). The
ecliptic plane is the geosynchronous geometric plane that computes the orbital positions of multiple
heavenly bodies, according to celestial coordinates of longitude and latitude, on a heavenly sphere.
The overall material shape of the cosmos yields a sphere displaced along its two poles (See Fig.
4. Note, within the outer boxes on the map are astrological signs), where the immobility of the
Earth´s horizon bisects the zodiacal circle. In the Ptolemaic system, the Earth does not move due
to its incredible weight and density (Ptolemy, (1984): p. 44). Thus, as the ecliptic plane moves
across the Earth´s horizon, it is not affected by displacement of mass of any other part in the
cosmos, where all heavenly spheres move along the zodiac circle. In this way of thinking that Earth
8
is an immobile point of matter in space, upon the ecliptic plane and bordering the zodiac´s frame
of reference, its location in the center of the cosmos is culturally important. This explains why it is
uncontroversial to think how and why the astrological notion saying that stars influence the Earth
is quantifiable. If the Earth is a fixed point in space around which everything moves, its center
affects the existence of all other moving objects.
Figure 4.
(Taken from Abbo of
Fleury, Computistical,
astronomical, and
cosmological
compilation, Photo:
Staatsbibliothek zu
Berlin, Preussischer
Kulturbesitz.)
The word ecliptic, in ancient Greek, means ´to cut the zodiac in two´, referring to how the
ecliptic circle was measured from two poles that served as a central axis for the measurement of
heaven’s total space. The astral map (See Fig. 4), a cosmographical study of apparent motions and
heavenly time, serves the purpose of directing the Ptolemaic astrologer who intends to establish
the apparent magnitude of the geocentric ecliptic plane, where the fixed stars and the planets report
mean time and position (horoscopy) upon the Earth´s stationary mass and diameter, described
beforehand using observational instruments and data. In the next section, from the technical
description given here of geocentrism we will know move on to cultural aspects of pre-Copernican
culture, using Aristotle as an example.
9
1.3 Aristotelian Geocentrism and Astronomical Models
Let us examine a traditional approach to astronomy, touched on by Kuhn8, as it is determined
by studying the Earth´s position in respect to other heavenly bodies. Aristotelian studies of
cosmology represent contributions to the Ptolemaic world system that are important for the analysis
of Earth´s status as the center of the whole cosmos. For Aristotle the problem of a planet´s status
can be thought of in relation to the central, immobile point around which all other heavenly bodies
revolve. Aristotelian philosophy is steeped in spherical cosmology9. The Earth is located in the
exact middle of the immensity of the heavens, as a natural axis for celestial motion and mass to be
displaced from one place in space to any other.
Aristotle refers to the difference between sub-lunar and super-lunar spatial regions, and posits
that causes operate differently in either realm10; the sub-lunar being a frame of reference that is
fixed in space. The super-lunar region´s stars display diametric motion that determines circularity
about a center, either downwards towards the center, upwards away from the center, and both
upwards and downwards on a line about the center. Circular motion can be bidirectional and
respective from a stationary cosmic epicenter, the Earth´s surface and fixed mass.
8
This is referring to the cultural aspects of astronomy: ¨That phrase, "Ptolemaic astronomy," refers to a traditional
approach to the problem of the planets rather than to any one of the particular putative solutions suggested by Ptolemy
himself, his predecessors, or his successors.¨ (Kuhn, T. S. (1957): p. 66).
9
The natural form of the sphere must necessarily be seen in the celestial firmament, proportionally to a fixed center.
See, Aristotle, On the Heavens; Book II.
10
The role of generation and corruption in nature is defined as a conditioned principle (ἀρχή) by Aristotle. The prime
motor, or unmoved mover, is the first cause for all conditions of all possible objects. See, Aristotle, Metaphysics; Book
XII. Aristotle, On Generation and Corruption; Book I, Part 6.
10
Planetary retrogressions show the reversal of circular motion at different points upon the ecliptic
plane (See Fig. 5 for retrogression of Mars), where a star goes in one direction, stops, and then goes
in reverse motion for a certain time period, before returning again to the first direction. The
mechanisms that were responsible for planetary retrogressions were not considered exceptional
motions to be investigated further, and did not consistently link super-lunar motion to any other
part of the cosmos. The Earth´s weight was also considered to be heavier than any other object in
space. In addition, it was considered that the sub-lunar realm represented different relationships for
moving masses.
Figure 5.
Taken from Kuhn (1957)
(West)
(East)
We can see how in a pre-Copernican worldview the great number of untested hypotheses
relating to physical matter favors a geocentric view of time and space. The logical opposition
between weight and lightness was assumed to be true by virtue of observation. Weight and lightness
are considered as determined qualities of space. In addition, motion itself was imagined as if it
were a theoretical truth that corresponded to geometric and arithmetic computation, without any
overarching concerns relating to broader mathematical-astronomical models. Aristotelian models
of time and space lack the integration of scientific models of observation that lead to understanding
concrete empirical, naturalistic properties of physical bodies.
11
2.1 Copernicanism and the Rejection of Geocentrism
Copernicus sought to challenge the Ptolemaic geocentric model on various different levels,
which are based in the reflection on the Sun’s place in space, as well as certain questions pertinent
to the development of mathematical astronomy. Copernicanism affirms the postulate of the Earth´s
rotation upon its diameter; and also questions how the Earth does not occupy the center of the
heavens (Copernicus, (2002): p. 22-26). The Earth´s central place in the heavens is incorrectly
perceived by not knowing what a planetary system is, as a feature of space. Astronomers before
Copernicus had confirmed the existence of anomalies in the astral position of the zodiac´s erratic
motion of precession, but none had considered that these anomalies arose from misperceiving
Earth´s place in a planetary system.
The Earth´s immobile position, and thus its, relation to other heavenly bodies, is being put into
doubt. The ecliptic plane, which was an astral map unfolding before the celestial firmament, before
the earthbound sky gazer, has to be reimagined as if physical measurement in a geocentric
astronomical plane, corresponded to heliocentric spatial properties. Earth´s twenty four hour daily
rotation really belongs to itself, and does not originate with motion about the celestial sphere that
planetary masses have to unceasingly obey. From the closest to the farthest object away from the
Earth, relatively, a new model should be studying the new synchronous, symmetric space that
planets move through.
Copernicus´s observational prowess allowed him to rectify the discrepancies that were known
about the Ptolemaic world system. The Julian calendar [46 B.C.E] is replaced by Gregorian
calendar [1582 A.C.E]. The previously used calendar was off by 10 days due to a shift between the
12
measurements of the tropical year and sidereal year11. For computations performed fifteen hundred
years apart, which changes by less than a tenth of a degree per year, the error in measurement
produces a deviation in prediction of the seasons that is evidence of an incorrect astronomical
model. He considered that the reason for the deviation, for the Ptolemaic system, is related to
incorrect assumptions about the cosmos´s symmetrical material order.
The Copernican ecliptic plane is no longer distributing an equant point along the computable
astronomical plane of the sphere of the fixed stars12. There is an eccentric circle from the solar
center enveloping the entire planetary system, where spinning planets are moved by epicycles with
an individual, twofold axis of motion. One motion is daily rotation; the other motion is yearly orbit.
A spinning planetary globe is the source of many visual distortions that seem like real
astronomical perceptions, but in fact are mere optical effects caused by the anomalies of Earth´s
astral position. The commensurable effects of planetary spin on visual representation is called
commutation13 by Copernicus. Planetary retrogression is now understood, primarily, as a visual
distortion caused by Earth´s moving horizon in space. This distorted frame of reference applies to
a rotating, symmetric astronomical plane, seen coursing uniform space from the fixed solar center,
where spinning planets follow the uniform motion of a central mass, about a circumference where
planets and stars are determined by orbital dynamics.
11
The sidereal year is longer than the tropical year by 20 minutes. The different measurements result from the astral
position of the Earth and its varying speed during orbit.
12
This is a view in philosophy of science that deals with scientific facts as features of particular research programs,
see; Lakatos, Imre; Zahar, Elie, Why did Copernicus´s Research Program Supersede Ptolemy´s.
13
Commutation, traditionally called parallax, is the visual effect of the distance perceived between two observers
who are moving on two different planes of motion, where one plane of motion appears to overtake the other, but has
not done so as a matter of fact; see, Rosen, Edward Copernicus and his Successors (1995): p. 79.
13
Subsequently his model was determined to take measurements
of the Earth´s position and temporal period inside a heliocentric
planetary system more accurately. The rate at which the zodiac´s
Figure 6.
Taken from
C.A
Gearhart
(1985)
constellations rising and setting marks measures the Earth´s true
position14 in space is affected by commutation. A better
measurement of the zodiac´s retrocession15 establishes true
measurements of Earth´s spatial-temporal position; proving that
greater economy is achieved, in theory, by realistically describing
the coherent spatial-temporal relationships of planetary systems (Fig. 6. S is the Sun´s center; C is
a deferent circle of motion; P is any planet´s epicyclical axis of orbit around the Sun; A, A-1, and
T are anomalies computed from S and P).
In order to figure out how to visualize space mathematically beyond the Earth´s sky´s
earthbound east-west horizon, we look at the solar frame of reference which defines the ecliptic
plane differently than in a geocentric astronomy. The sun´s fixed position in between 7 orbiting
objects (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter) is a central axis in space. Since
we are no longer thinking of Earth as an absolute center that can be visualized in space we must
now imagine Earth´s position as a planet in a system of spheres. A new configuration of space girds
the planetary system Earth is moving in, in tandem to other celestial spheres, as a planet.
14
For discussion on the precession of the tropical and sidereal year that explains the Earth´s place in space in relation
to the measurement of time, see: Swerdlow, Noel M. Hipparchus's Determination of the Length of the Tropical Year
and the Rate of Precession, and Neugebauer, O. The Alleged Babylonian Discovery of the Precession of the Equinoxes.
15
Ptolemy used the numbers for the zodiac´s precession about an axis, collected from the work of Hipparchus, whom
says it is equal to 36,000 years (It is actually known to be about 26,000 years today).
14
2.2 Spatial Symmetry and Uniformity
Copernicus developed a symmetric spherical astronomy and heliocentric cosmology. The Sun´s
frame of reference as a central point in space reimagines the astronomical plane, where heavenly
bodies rotated and revolved in orbits, about a new, complex axis of motion that is not geocentric.
The feat of establishing a new paradigm for Copernicus is achieved, technically, using his own
trigonometry using epicycles, eccentric and deferent circles16, to describe uniform motion (See Fig.
6) about the circumferential position of a heliocentric sphere; and shunning the use of a fixed,
equant point.
The triplication of measurements, necessary to calculate motion, and which are found in
Ptolemy’s mathematical-astronomy, was replaced with a simpler model by Copernicus (Compare
Fig. 6 to Fig. 3). Celestial observations are now possible for Copernicus, in his mind´s eye, from
the point of view of the attraction of mass to mass; the ´kingly throne´ of the solar harmony, where
the omnipotent cosmic center relays motion and mass about the ecliptic plane.
Copernicus described the correct order of the planets, as they lie outwards from the Sun´s center
in this way (Copernicus, (2002): p. 26-31). The Sun´s place was referred to as a harmony; carrying
lesser and greater heavenly bodies, and their orbits, by conveying mass across a starry center in
space (Copernicus, (2002): p. 30-32). The detection of true position for Sun, Moon, and Earth is
essential for a heliocentric model where planetary motion corresponds to space, and earthbound
observers can realistically compute harmonious, mathematical-astronomical spatial properties.
The correct position determined by the Copernican model is related to the horizon´s spatial
displacement from a spatial center, and to the production of a fixed astronomical table of
16
Copernicus´s mathematics simplifies the three point computation of astral position. See, Gearhart, C.A Epicycles,
Eccentrics, and Ellipses: The Predictive Capabilities of Copernican Planetary Models.
15
measurements17. The center of a solar system will be coherently proportioned to other spheres that
represent symmetric motion and distance18 about an axis that displaces space from a heliocentric
center.
The analysis of space, for a planet like Earth, refers to the computation
of apparent motion for heliocentric planets (see Fig. 7), where the Earth
Figure 7.
D
C
E
arranges motion symmetrically about the ecliptic and defines the center of
the zodiac19. It can be observed from the Earth (point E), where the rising of
signs (point B and point C) and their setting (point A and point D),
B
A
contiguous to the Earth´s horizon (lines BED and AEC). This shows us how their appearance upon
the Earth´s horizon completes a full circle of 360 degrees (See Fig. 8) as it follows its yearly and
daily motion.
The success of Copernicus´s model, in looking at the zodiac´s
immeasurable distance from Earth, can be interpreted as a
confirmation of the precession of the equinoxes20. He discovered
that the precession of the equinoxes is not caused by the apparent
Figure 8.
eastward motion of stars in the sky. It is a visual distortion, or
commutation, of the Earth´s own inclined axis of rotation and
17
The tropical year is measured in relation to the sidereal year to achieve greater accuracy in the measurement of the
length of planetary orbit. See: Abers, Ernest S.; Kennel, Charles F., The Role of Error in Ancient Methods for
Determining the Solar Distance.
18
Geokinetic motion is possible for spherical mass, see: Knox, Dilwyn Copernicus´s s Doctrine of Gravity and the
Natural Circular Motion of the Elements.
19
If one defines the center of the zodiac in relation to a geokinetic body one must calculate the Sun´s position into a
variety of astronomical models i.e., the distance of Venus, the precession of the equinoxes, eclipses etc. See, Hanson,
Norwood Russell The Copernican Disturbance and the Keplerian Revolution (1961): p. 178-179.
20
The same constellations of the zodiac appear sometimes during winter and other times during summer. In summer,
day is longer than night, and in winter, night is longer than day; the equinox are the 4 points of equal day and night
during every year. Precession is the predicted shift in the observation of the seasons´ equinoxes, from the zodiac´s
apparent motion. The first to discover axial precession was Hipparchus.
16
revolution (Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on the ecliptic) that produces the aforementioned
retrocession of stars in the firmament over a zodiacal cycle. To Copernicus, the naked eye´s illusory
perception of Earth´s immobility is also proof that the position of heavenly bodies in the celestial
firmament, such as the zodiac, do not always provide meaningful data to accurately compute
distances for two spherical orbital relations, across any distance in space.
Day and night, therefore, are not sequential sections of the Earth´s horizon, which coincide with
the movements of the Sun and Moon; day and night are just units of motion found in between Sun,
Earth, and Moon. This new perspective disregards the a priori observation of the human senses, in
a Ptolemaic spatial sense is predetermined through the contiguity to the Earth´s mass, and is
inclined to think of day and night as features of Earth´s natural form. The motion of stars for
Copernicus was seen to represent a well-organized harmony of mechanical motions, which favors
an external view of Earth´s temporal and spatial phenomena.
The Copernican heliocentric model undermines humanity´s belief in the uniqueness of Earth,
and therefore of itself, contrary to religious tradition. This implies the de-centering of human
culture, to the view of the human being as an entity in nature that now lives on a moving planet.
Humanity is inhabiting a planet, by virtue of a planet´s physical properties identical to that of other
planets in the immensity of space. In accordance, human experience is limited by natural laws and
the properties of matter. A critique of religion by secular science is a topic that will not be treated
here since it implies a more detailed analysis of the relationship between religious institutions and
modern science. The Copernican cultural paradigm brings about a new conception of reality based
in reason, all the while bringing up the possibilities of a new scientific worldview.
17
2.3 Giordano Bruno’s Idea of Infinite Space
Cultural paradigms can arise from astronomical traditions in modern culture. The history of
cultural Copernicanism relates to the possibilities of astronomical discovery in cultural products
that portray life outside Earth. New interpretations of a heliocentric planetary system add to the
cultural relevance of the Copernican revolution:
¨Most of the essential elements by which we know the Copernican Revolution —
easy and accurate computations of planetary position, the abolition of epicycles
and eccentrics, the dissolution of the spheres, the sun a star, the infinite expansion
of the universe — these and many others are not to be found anywhere in
Copernicus' work. In every respect except the earth's motion the De
Revolutionibus seems more closely akin to the works of ancient and medieval
astronomers and cosmologists than to the writings of the succeeding generations
who based their work upon Copernicus' and who made explicit the radical
consequences that even its author had not seen in his work.¨ (Kuhn, (1957): p.
135)
The many followers of Copernicus such as Kepler, Galileo, and others, develop their own
versions of Copernican world systems, so that new data and observations are added to the planetary
system established in his new astronomical model. Astronomers add hard scientific data: i.e.,
Galileo´s observation of the rotation of the Sun´s surface using a telescope, or Kepler´s observation
that orbits are elliptical. Copernicus could not have imagined in the future how so much that has
been based on his theory is related precisely to the discovery of a heliocentric rotation about the
cosmos´s many axes of motion; describing a sun around which other moons and planets revolve
and spin.
18
Giordano Bruno, the philosopher infamous for publicly defending heliocentrism before the
Catholic inquisition, was a student of Copernicus´s theory. He was executed for it, at the Campo
di Fiori in 1608. It was Bruno who propounded the idea that space is infinite, and contains an
infinity of inhabited planets.
According to Bruno, God creates new living beings that populate the universe because an infinite
universe is fine-tuned to receive matter in proportion to an infinite, divine creative force. If there
is a planetary system with a quality of matter creating life on Earth, then, consequently, there should
be many suns in the rest of the universe that do the same thing, because of God´s infinite creativity;
the propensity to create life.
Bruno´s thesis of life on other planets is derived from Copernicus´s intuition of space. The
homogeneous uniformity of nature is generated in a planetary system according to the possibility
of life that links suns to earths. An infinite universe is generated in the infinite dimension of space
according to a natural principle of a metaphysical condition of existence for corporeal and
incorporeal space:
¨The Stoics distinguish between the world and the universe, because the world is
everything that is full and has a solid body; the universe is not only the world, but
includes void, external space; that is why they say that the world is finite, but that
the universe is infinite.¨ (Bruno, (1993): Dialogue I. 398)
Physical beings, occupy empty space, and are perceived by intellect, according to its
transmutable material properties and forces. Matter is arranged in bodies that exist in the vastness
of empty space. Bruno´s thesis of innumerable earths is a response to the question about the
existence of life on other planets, and is guided by the discoveries of the Earth´s self-propelled axis
19
of rotation and its direct relation to a heliocentric planetary system21. Life is a process that can be
likened to the physical transmutations of forces, where there is an infinite mixing of physical
substances and forces.
Bruno imagined the causes and effects of living, animated beings are correlated to a dichotomy
between a sun, and the earths and moons that surround it. In Bruno´s infinity, all animated objects
are determined to exist around a void, which accompanies all the physical processes related to
planets22 that have water and can sustain life; and for suns that possess fire and give live, animating
matter from within and without organic bodies. Bruno believed that there was a likely possibility
of there being an infinite amount of habited worlds like Earth, in other parts of the cosmos, where
force is exerted on finite substances, such as water, fire, ether, and earth; from which living
organisms are composed.
The fundamental constituents of matter, atoms, are carried in space by a creative force, because
God has created a universe that will snap into place from nothingness, and assume by nature any
physical shape or aspect23. If physical force can become part of the space that defines finite,
animated bodies, then there is still a perfect motion of space that is derived from infinite space,
created extrinsically from empty space24 in physically animated bodies. There is no defined point
in an infinite universe where up, down, left, right describe how mass and motion snaps into place
from nothingness; nor can we directly know the mind of God that creates matter ex nihilo.
Consequently for Bruno, atoms are the perceived products of infinite earths, suns, and moons that
21
Bruno believes that the soul is responsible for motion in all finite bodies, and in the whole of the universe as well.
See, Bruno, (1993): Dialogue II. 432.
22
Earth´s movements for Bruno are both finite and infinite. These movements are not finite and physical, but
manifested by divine matter. See, Ibid. Dialogue I. 391-392, Dialogue II. 407-408.
23
Atoms have an infinite path for motion, and for the alteration of their mass there are infinite possibilities from their
generation in the divine intellect. See, Bruno, (1993): Dialogue II. 413-414.
24
Marsilio Ficino was the first to translate Plato into Latin in the 15 th century. His Platonic cosmology is based in an
intrinsic principle of matter and intellect that is tethered to a world-soul. See: McMullin, E. (1987); p. 61.
20
make up a planetary system, as infinite space is created in proportion to the organic beings that
populate it.
Space is disposed to receive spiritual matter, of a determined natural property, because there
will always be animated bodies
25
that assume the spontaneous generation of physical and living
forces in a universe that is infinite. The infinite amount of possible species that represent living
matter26 is unconstrained by a relative limit, a single center of force in space, where atoms and
physically animated matter originate in physical bodies. In an infinite universe, every physical
location can be considered a center for living matter, as much as it is considered to be inside or
outside physical bodies, outside of empty space, as a physical force that creates life, as well as new
planetary systems, from infinite, empty space.
The thesis of Bruno´s infinitely populated version of the cosmos is also represented similarly by
Bergerac´s science-fiction narrative where planetary systems exert force, in external space. Thus,
Bruno and Bergerac´s thought has a common consciousness for a new vision of the universe, where
the universe is being infinitely altered, as God is creating new physical forces, and living
organisms. Insofar as we can see that these two thinkers analyzing the nature of spirit and physical
force, where infinite species of possible beings live upon infinite space, there is a new view of the
cosmos that is separate from a particular, homogenous dimension of spirit and matter.
25
Bruno sees God and infinity as both being the same as the ´infinite all´, a dimension in space where life is put into
order in bodies that are animated by the soul. See, Bruno (1993): Dialogue I. 382-383, Dialogue II. 411-412,
Dialogue III. 436.
26
The soul has a structure which produces cognitive states. For Bruno, the soul is chain of conscious states that
extends from mnemonic recall to the contemplation of God. See, Farinella, A.; Preston, C., Giordano Bruno:
Neoplatonism and the Wheel of Memory in the "De Umbris Idearum"
21
3.1 Space Flight and VTTM
Copernican science-fiction involves a redefinition of humanity´s point of view as an intelligent
species, and as a moving observer of space outside Earth. The issue of life on other planets invokes
questioning the perspective of essentially belonging to one world, all the while being a visitor to
other worlds. In VTTM, the main character of the story travels from the Earth to the Moon. If we
travel to the Moon is it not an Earth? And looking at the Earth from the Moon does it not become
a Moon? The greatest part of VTTM´s story of space flight suggests this common misconception
is related to the mysterious nature of space outside Earth.
The possibilities of heliocentric space characterize the representation of space flight outside
Earth. The perspective of the sky-gazer who sees the Moon as a planet like Earth is bound by a
spatial frame of reference27 from which the protagonist describes his journey outside Earth. The
physical methods of propulsion the protagonist devises to leave Earth are clearly related to folk
physic-like rules of thumb for projectile motion. These mix the effects of heat, vapor, and the
displacement of mass into a bottle-rocket like jetpack, which the protagonist uses to reach the
Moon; tying the vapor engines to his waist and flying upwards. The dynamic of heat and bottled
water causes the vapor´s natural propellant properties to buoy himself skywards, working towards
other heavenly spheres and new worlds.
VTTM´s protagonist´s desired aim is to propel himself directly into the sky and towards the
Moon´s and Sun´s astral position. He travels to the Sun, in the sequel to VTTM, using a seated
space-vehicle; an icosahedron with planes of glass can amplify heat and rise into space.
27
A spatial frame of reference would not be the same as an ontology of vision that is describing the mechanics of
space flight. To read about the ontology of vision in science-fiction see; Chen-Morris, Raz Shadows of Instruction:
Optics and Classical Authorities in Kepler's ‘Somnium´.
22
Bergerac does not focus his idea of space flight on meteorological phenomena and its effect on
space flight. Neither is the reality of space flight constricted by any limitation of the vapor-driven
steam engine, which the protagonist uses to reach the new planets in VTTM. For him, space flight
is the privilege of those with the knowledge to devise a working method of propulsion, and beside
its evangelical value for space prophets, it is meant as a mechanistic feat of will. Favoring
guesswork, curiosity, and adventurousness, the protagonist explores new worlds:
¨When I had, according to the computation I made since, advanced a good deal
more than three quarters of the space that divided the Earth from the Moon; all of
a sudden I fell with my Heels up and Head down, though I had made no Trip; and
indeed, I had not been sensible of it, had not I felt my Head loaded under the
weight of my Body: The truth is, I knew very well that I was not falling again
towards our World; for though I found myself to be betwixt two Moons, and easily
observed, that the nearer I drew to the one, the farther I removed from the other¨
(Bergerac, VTTM, (1687): p. 21)
Instead of floating endlessly after leaving Earth, without anything to interrupt a free fall, as he
approaches the surface of the Moon the protagonist’s perspective is inverted to perceive a new
spatial frame of reference. The inversion in perspective is accompanied by a realization of the
falsehood of a mere bodily sensation that asserts ‘up’ and ‘down’, mere conventions, which do not
apply to the spatial sense of an astronaut exploring new planets. There is a relative frame of
reference for projectile motion, between Earth and the Moon, which the astronaut experiences.
Thus, the protagonist is not able to describe a true point of reference as he moves in space, moving
away, or toward, a relative point in space, while approaching a new heavenly body. The new planet
described in VTTM, as much as it is to do with embodying human spirit theories like a Galilean
23
viewpoint of relative motion, has also to do with the possibilities of establishing a new measuring
point for human consciousness; a moving satellite´s vision of the cosmos in a new world outside
Earth.
We will see in the next sections how the discovery of a new world is a rich avenue of exploration
for early modern renaissance culture. The tradition of human optimism28 encapsulates what we will
be tracing in the possibilities of science-fiction literature. Cyrano borrows from the tradition of
older pre-Copernican science. Human beings explore physical objects in VTTM, and identify the
fundamental relationships to other material and spiritual bodies, and discovering spatial regions
that exist as a result of what is and what is not possible, in the context of astronomy, and pseudoastronautic technology.
The frame of reference for the relations between physical bodies that we see in VTTM, and its
sequel, is not based in an actual empirical context of aerodynamics, but is based more so in the
interactions between heat and all physical classes of matter, throughout an interplanetary spatial
realm. The ballistics and rocketry techniques necessary for space travel imply a higher knowledge
of propellants, like gunpowder or cordite, had not yet become a coherent scientific activity in
Bergerac´s day29.
By reaching a new planet outside Earth and discovering a new world, Bergerac´s astronaut has
crossed the threshold between one world and another. By describing the exploration of a new world
in a heliocentric worldview Bergerac has himself symbolized the human aspiration towards the
28
The 17th century philosopher Leibniz speaks of metaphysical optimism by stating that humanity inhabits ¨the best
of all possible worlds¨. The principle of a pre-established harmony of all existences and laws in nature explains this
proposition. Immanuel Kant refers to the same by affirming the existence of two or more equally perfect worlds.
29
Aeronautics was not an established area of research until the 19 th century. In 1908 the Wright Brothers achieved
air flight. Space travel was inaugurated by Sputnik, a Russian space satellite, in 1957. Rocket technology has its
beginnings in German, American, Russian scientific societies. See, Pendray, G. Pioneer Rocket Development in the
United States.
24
unknown. The idealized juncture of heat and projectile motion is his way of developing the idea
of space flight and presenting the discovery of new worlds as a feature of astronautic culture that
is part of a Copernican paradigm shift. Next, we will be looking into in the thought of renaissance
philosopher Pico della Mirandola that is considering human nature as it is ultimately characterized
by new possibilities that humanity explores.
3.2 Science-Fiction Optimism
Natural science and space technology in Bergerac´s fictional narration represents the
experimental discovery of intelligent organisms outside Earth. Whereas before angels, gods, and
other spirits would exist in higher realms of thought and space, now the human astronaut in VTTM
inhabits interplanetary space and explores the possibilities of new worlds. With Bergerac’s sciencefiction narration, a modern science-fiction worldview, we see how western culture seeks the idea
of new worlds, to describe the irremediable value of the human will in modernity, a new human
optimism, which makes it possible to imagine humans discovering new spatial regions.
The 15th century eclectic philosopher Pico della Mirandola refers to an argument relating to the
cosmological worldview of human optimism in his Oration on the Dignity of Man. Using
Kabbalistic imagery, and concepts that correspond to mystical practice, Pico explains why the
human species exists in a hierarchy of living beings, where angels remain above humankind, and
beasts are inferior to the human species.
In a sense, humanity´s place in the great chain of being, from Mirandola´s perspective, is proof
of the highest bestowal of grace for the human species, which God can manifest as a miracle of
divine will in nature (Mirandola, (1956): p. 4-5). Humanity exists in the middle of creation, at a
central referential point that can be seen by restoring confidence in humanity. The knowledge of
25
human optimism lies beyond the brutality of human existence, which is characteristic of lower
animal consciousness, and is therefore redeemed by divine grace, which leads to a calling for
humanity to rise, from obscurity into clarity.
The idea of a human body, as it is understood according to the possibility of space travel, recalls
the great chain of being30 where life and death are a possibility for conscious beings that possess
knowledge of a true reality. The human imagination is to be discovered as new knowledge.
Mirandola´s humanist conception of knowledge muses on the necessary aspects for humanity to
exist, in a purely spiritual heaven or hell. The state of humankind´s spirit, as a species, exists
between these two opposites without exception, in a perpetual motion of knowing and unknowing.
The focus of the human species in the continuum of nature is a result of human optimism, an urge
to explore nature, and to reveal human knowledge through feats of exploration.
The tradition of astronautics, which culminates with such achievements as the moonshot, the
Hubble telescope, and the International Space Station, reflects human optimism and knowledge.
Human values consider the perspective of humanity´s new place in the cosmos and in the great
chain of being, and echo the discovery of new regions of space outside Earth. Under this
perspective, the true proportions of human optimism are made possible by affirming that new
realms outside Earth can be reached using technology, as it may be understood by human space
travelers.
30
Mirandola refers to the ´ladder of being´, in reference to the story of Jacob´s ladder in the Bible, around which
heaven and Earth are unified: ¨´We have given you, O Adam, no visage proper to yourself, nor endowment properly
your own, in order that whatever place, whatever form, whatever gifts you may, with premeditation, select, these
same you may have and possess through your own judgement and decision… I have placed you at the very center of
the world, so that from that vantage point you may with greater ease glance round about you on all that the world
contains.¨ (Mirandola, (1956): p. 7).
26
We had seen that the Earth´s surface serves as an epicenter of physical and spiritual matter in
pre-Copernican culture. Heliocentrism is a necessary aspect of a more precise knowledge of the
cosmos that is reflected in early modern science-fiction and which characterizes the meaning and
value of the condition of scientific discovery, identifying the character of human optimism in a
technological space age. The role of the astronaut in modern culture is representative of a
worldview that is given in science-fiction, which comments on the possibilities of astronautic
journeys.
3.3 Human Intelligence and Alien Species
For the protagonist exploring planets outside Earth31, using rudimentary folk-physics, it is
actually possible to discover new forms of life existing in new worlds, on the Sun and Moon. The
natural advantage that alien species have over humankind, by virtue of their living outside Earth,
and by their place on the hierarchy of spiritual, intelligent species, presents an interesting twist to
the protagonist´s space travels. The Copernican status of Bergerac´s novels express a conjecture:
if life exists on planets outside Earth, then Earth is not fit to support life; Earth is not a planet that
has an environment fit for lifeforms that are more advanced technologically than humans. This
quandary leads the reader of VTTM to think the human species as one among countless other
species of existent beings on the Moon, and Sun.
One of the recurring themes of the protagonist’s narrative deals with the mystification produced
by the human body and mind, from the aliens´ perspective. This issue is coupled with the
protagonist’s incredulity in accepting that the Moon is a world, and that the Earth is now a Moon.
Subsequently, the protagonist is now an alien who is unaware of what type of creature he really is.
31
Exo-planets are planets other than Earth where life can be sustained, which are defined by a system of
classification. See; Marcy, Geoffrey W. Other Earths and the Search for Life in the Universe. /
27
There is a prevailing theme wherein the protagonist´s capacity for reason is doubted until a certain
alien comes to advocate on behalf of this waylaid earthman, in front of the disbelieving alien hosts.
The question of humanity´s place in the cosmos is no longer an astronomical problem solved by
using theories. Humans have become aliens to species from another planet. In VTTM, the aliens
want to know if the human organism does, or does not have a rational mind.
The alien who helps him with the problems he encounters, regarding the veracity of his
biological human form, has gone to Greece on Earth, and was called the daemon of Socrates. This
alien also happens to be the same one who appeared to Cardanus, the philosopher who informed
the protagonist of the existence of life outside Earth. This character is one of the few aliens on the
Moon who knows that the protagonist is fit to reason; since he has previously traveled to Earth and
communicated with humans. He is actually an alien from the Sun, in disguise, sent to live on the
Moon due to overpopulation on the Sun´s worlds.
Bergerac´s heliocentric cosmology points to the likelihood, from the perspective of
Copernicanism32, for discovering new forms of intelligence in other parts of the cosmos. The urge
to devise technologies is the same as the point of view of a human body and mind exploring the
rest of the cosmos. Aliens that are conscious have a view born from their own experimental science
and natural philosophy. The natural philosophy of the Lunar and Solar species is registered in the
eternal transformations of living and inert matter, occurring beyond the animal body of earthbound
creatures, and resulting in the form of a first matter, which can be understood in the following way:
¨For that Eternity which they deny the World, because they cannot comprehend
it, they attribute it to God, as if he stood in need of that Present, and as if it were
32
Exo-biology treats the question asking if life is limited to our planet or if it is not. See: Levin, G. Significance and
Status of Exobiology.
28
easier to imagine it in the one than in the other; for tell me, pray, was it ever yet
conceived in Nature, how Something can be made of Nothing? Alas! Betwixt
Nothing and an Atome only, there are such infinite Disproportions, that the
sharpest Wit could never dive into them; therefore to get out of this inextricable
Labyrinth, you must admit of a Matter Eternal with God…¨ (Bergerac, VTTM,
(1687): p. 108)
The reality of inhabited planets outside Earth can be understood in VTTM as a faculty of created
matter, a matter that arises out of nothingness and can give form to an infinite amount of possible
beings. Just as the creative instinct of God creates all things in an infinite universe that has no
cause, there can be an infinity of possible beings. The difficulty of understanding Bergerac´s
natural philosophy refers plainly to the problem of a heliocentric cosmology, as it is altering the
view of what matter does, and where, physically, in the cosmos composed of the finite dimensions
arising from physical space.
Physical space is derived by way of the individual form of atoms and their motions that account
for the existence of the physical world, its multiple forms to appear in. A physical world can´t
come from nothing, it must have a cause or a physical force. The effect of any atom upon cosmic
matter, as such, conditionally arises in nothingness, by physical force alone. Space is seen from a
materialist perspective, which understands first matter and atoms as properties of nature, as atoms
compose the bodies of all organisms, and their organic processes (Bergerac, VTTM, (1687): p. 107117).
An infinite force can´t be constructed, nor perceived by a single observer independently, nor
from the perspective of a finite spatial sense. VTTM is alluding to is a principle for nature to
29
dispose matter that may have some function delineated through creative properties that organize
atomic bodies in space:
¨If Art then be capable of inclining a Body to a perpetual Motion, why may we
not believe that Nature can do it? It's the same with the other Figures, of which
the Square requires a perpetual Rest, others an oblique Motion, others a half
Motion, as Trepidation; and the Round, whose Nature is to move ¨ (Bergerac,
VTTM, (1687): p. 109)
Bergerac is not a metaphysician of the realist, reductivist atomist worldview. He takes from the
Neoplatonic tradition that speaks of the union of life to matter, depicting the perfection of innate
physical forces joining soul and body. This is related to the idea or notion of Earth´s qualities,
outside of its image as a fixed center in space, is an attribute of infinite animal consciousness
(Bergerac, VTTM, (1687): p. 100).
Whereas Bergerac´s science fiction is a modern take on space exploration, we can still find
elements in his work that are throwbacks to the Aristotelian and Platonic division of sub-lunar and
super-lunar realms, and pre-Copernican natural philosophy. In VTTM, the role of nature in
assigning form to tangible objects corresponds to the possibilities of first matter outside Earth33, as
is evident everywhere in atoms retaining mass throughout the cosmos. Thus, the Moon and Sun
aliens are the only ones that can show human consciousness cosmic creativity in an infinite
universe replete with atomic bodies, as it is understood to exist by conscious organisms.
33
In one part of the story a Solar alien illuminates a room with trapped sunlight. ¨I have fixed their Light, and
inclosed it within these transparent Bowls. That ought not to afford you any great Cause of Admiration; for it is not
harder for me, who am a Native of the Sun, to condense his Beams, which are the Dust of that World, than it is for
you to gather the Atomes of the pulveriz'd Earth of this World.¨ (Bergerac, VTTM, (1687): p. 118-119)
30
The creative consciousness of matter, as a principle of nature, is at any rate an example of early
modern panpsychism34, a thesis that claims to demonstrate physical matter arises from incorporeal
consciousness. The perfection of heliocentric space implies the perfection of those things that exist
within a heliocentric cosmos, such as a plenum and vacuum, in every possible configuration of
matter. The phenomena of interplanetary space exploration in Copernican science-fiction are used
in VTTM to review what humanity knows about the cosmos where physical matter outside Earth35
exists, and extra-terrestrial consciousness is discovered.
The alien´s natural science in VTTM is proof of the creation of new life outside Earth. The
protagonist’s posture as a science-fiction natural philosopher and astronaut reflects the human
body´s performance in new spatial and spiritual realms outside Earth, exploiting the knowledge
given to him through the example of space travel and technology. In VTTM, the argument of first
matter is clearly observed by alien species who originate outside Earth, who can understand the
physical changes of this substantial process as it creates life inside an interplanetary cosmos,
understood more clearly by aliens than by humans.
Conclusion
The Copernican astronomical and cultural frame of reference, in early modern science-fiction,
is derived from the character of natural science in literature36. It claims that it is possible to imagine
life outside Earth; as well as making it possible to imagine a method of rocket propulsion. In the
34
Thales of Mileto, pre-Socratic philosopher, believed that motion was tied to the soul´s effect on matter.
Panpsychism is a problem related to the contemplation of matter and the existence of divinity. See; Skrbina, David
Panpsychism in the West.
35
In a scene of the sequel to VTTM, the protagonist is floating out of the planetary system into the vacuum of space
at the limit of the sphere of the fixed stars; crossing the celestial firmament his body loses its color and becomes
translucent. When the protagonist returns into the planetary sphere, by willing himself towards the solar center, he
regains his usual bodily form. (Bergerac, C., Comical History of the States and Empires of the Sun (1687): p. 76-86)
36
Science-fiction literature involves a relationship between the unknowable, and a novel scientific idea, which
centers the narrative from an expected dramatic resolution, on a cognitive plane. See; Suvin, Darko Metamorphoses
of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre.
31
early period of renaissance humanistic culture, freethinkers like Cyrano de Bergerac create new,
interrelated cultural products of the new discoveries in astronomy, natural philosophy, and
cosmology. Cyrano de Bergerac´s works retain European renaissance cultural view, referring to
new possibilities that give birth to modern science-fiction. Additionally, a work like Bergerac´s
expresses the possibility of culture that corresponds to a new vision of space inspired from
speculation of a new solar center.
For this work different philosophers and scientists have been reviewed and commented on to
discern the cultural juncture between ancient astronomical thought, and early modern sciencefiction. Ptolemy’s geocentric astronomy, alongside the technical tools used in astrology and
horoscopy, show us how there is a cultural view that is related to the reflection on humanity´s
spatial sense, identifying the idea of ourselves as earthbound creatures. We have also reviewed
Copernicus’s restructuring of mathematical-astronomy, which relates to discoveries in space, in a
sense of exposing a relationship between humanism and astronomy. Giordano Bruno´s thesis of an
infinite universe is derived from the idea of physical atoms that are part of innumerable worlds,
where life is possible in outer space.
The cultural model of European humanism implies a sense of the importance of scientific
discovery. Copernicanism produces a culture of scientific speculation that is relevant to the moment
of origination of science-fiction literature. A new, humanistic vision of the cosmos, which is an
inherent part of science-fiction´s depiction of technological innovation, as such, is ambiguously
tied up in the possibility of pre-Copernican techniques of astrology and star gazing. A new
perception of natural science in VTTM is restructured round the value of human humility,
characterizing a new, meaningful posture for a Copernican cultural paradigm that includes the idea
of life outside Earth, and the possibility of alien consciousness outside Earth.
32
A Copernican cultural paradigm begins, as an epistemological worldview, with a theoretical
feature of the spatial perception of space; the Earth is orbiting the Sun; the vastness of space is so
great that humanity must reimagine the nature of bodily experience. The technological space age
involves references to postures that are antique, but are reflecting the leadership of Copernicanism
in early modern humanism. A new sense of humility, inspired by the discovery of aliens in VTTM,
complements the Copernican optimism of an astronautic age. The mixture of Aristotelian and
Platonic doctrines that represent Bergerac’s story of aliens outside Earth, quite similarly to
Mirandola’s concept of a “ladder of being”. These doctrines are mixed in with the Copernican
elements, in VTTM, as a version of science-fiction optimism brought into existence during the
renaissance.
Astronautic themes are reminiscent of the urge to exploration and discovery has been inquired
in this text, relating space travel and technology to paradigm shifts found in modern culture; the
climate of human optimism, and human humility, in early modern science-fiction. The change
between Ptolemaic and Copernican approaches to astronomical measurement contributes to the
discussion of cultural artefacts and their relation to knowledge, beyond technical discussions of
astronomical models. The privileged perspective of seeing Earth in space, of seeing Earth as a
planetary body, is a perspective from which humans typically assert their physical bodily
perception and everyday existence. Earth is no longer a sui generis37 object, but is now a planet
with certain natural properties that can be measured, uniformly, in theories that refer to the Earth
as a planet, supporting living beings that are made up from atoms.
37
In a geocentric, Ptolemaic world system, Earth is a unique object that is not a planet, and thus, is the only place for
life to exist. See; Bula, G. (2011): p. 136.
33
The combination of cutting edge scientific and mythological views on the existence of life in
the cosmos is a pertinent feature of the early modern science-fiction that speaks to the development
of Bergerac´s unique, hybrid vision of cultural Copernicanism. Early modern science-fiction is an
example of a mixed view of human history made up from views of a cyclical, eternal recurrence of
nature in older pre-Copernican cultures, and which aspires to an image of progress, where there are
innovative technological efforts, exploring new, distant locales away from Earth. The aesthetics of
early modern science-fiction suggest that technical innovations can be brought to bear on complex
viewpoints that can be expressed in cultural products.
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