The same influence of Aristotelian thought led Bruno to posit a subtle matter, the Ether, as filling up the interstices between the atoms. Space and body having been identified, it was seen that a vacuum was inconsistent with the nature of things. The Aristotelian plenum was reintroduced in this form, that there might be some reality where the discrete atoms were not. The bolder step of asserting the fact, and indeed, the necessity of a vacuum as a presupposition of knowledge of the material world, was not taken until there appeared the work of Gassendi, by whom the final blow was given to the old conception of body and space, and through whom the critical separation of the one from the other was first rendered possible. It is curious that Bruno did not think of applying to the continuous ether any geometrical measure; had he done so, he would have understood the value of the new theory of infinitesimals and irrationals which he opposed so strongly. Again, had he carried out more fully the distinction which he draws between the atom and the terminus or limit, the same result would have followed. Pure geometry is the geometry of the limit; for the limit is not only between atom and atom, or body and body, but also between atom and vacuum or ether. In this sense it is both continuous and figured, the compatibility of which qualities Bruno had denied; the continuous is measured, not by making it discrete, but by making the number, the measure, fluid or continuous.
Lasswitz has shown that there are in Bruno’s theory three distinct aspects, not, however, clearly separated one from another, of the atomic hypothesis: they may be named severally the metaphysical, the physical, and the critical aspects. Metaphysical atomism.From the metaphysical point of view the atom is the ultimately simple, indeterminate substance of things; its conception results from the effort to find the real substance which is outside of, and unaffected by, the change and decay apparent on the surface of things, but felt to be unreal. Simplicity, unity, substance, is that which is sought, an abiding somewhat underlying the flux of the universe, which is regarded as an illusory appearance to sense. From this aspect it is that the identity of minimum and maximum, of the least with the greatest, is to be explained. Number, plurality, and diversity no longer apply to the absolutely simple: all are determinations of human and finite origin which are here no longer valid. In the simple all contraries coincide, for the very reason that it has no determinations in itself; even the highest qualities which men would attribute to God, for example,—justice and goodness,—are improperly predicated of him, for as in him the greatest and the least coincide, so do goodness and evil and all other contrary qualities. In this respect Bruno was following closely in the footsteps of Nicolaus of Cusa.
Physical Atomism.From the second point of view, that of physical atomism, the atom is nothing more than a hypothesis to explain the constitution and qualities of nature as we experience it. We seek to account for the differences in material bodies and in their ways of acting upon one another by the interaction of ultimate elements of which the nature and laws may be variously interpreted. Of this point of view also there are traces in Bruno, although for it he had least regard. He does not attempt, for example, to apply the theory of the atoms to explain the four elements which had come down from Aristotle. He leaves them practically intact, and we have seen that they form a standing difficulty in the way of a consistent theory. The earth alone is atomic in its nature; water, air, and fire seem alike fluid and continuous in quality, but wherein their difference from one another consists he was unable, or did not care, to make clear. Perhaps, if we take his view at its best, we should say that all three represent strata, varying in density, of the one fluid and all-pervading ether. Had he worked out this conception, which was evidently present, on occasions, to his mind, he would have given an example of what is meant by physical atomism. But this was left for another century to fulfil. Critical Atomism.From the third or critical point of view, which inquires into the presuppositions or the possibility of knowledge, Bruno may be regarded as being, to some extent, a forerunner of Kant, in the stress he lays upon the relation of the minimum to measure or knowledge, and in his doctrine of the relativity of the conception of the minimum. The minimum, instead of a last of division, becomes a first of composition—a ground which we must necessarily assume in order to account for the experienced fact of composition. To know a composite is to measure it, and measurement implies the minimum or first part, without which quantity in any form cannot be explained. As the comparison of numbers with one another, their determination as greater or less, is only possible on the assumption of a unit, a common measure to which each may be referred, so the comparison of bodies with one another, as to quantity and quality alike, demands a corporeal minimum, to which their differences must be reduced. This relation to knowledge carries with it the relativity of the minimum according to the subject-matter with which the knower is for the time being concerned. If all knowledge is of the same type, then in each application of it—each subdivision of knowledge as a whole—there is presupposed the corresponding minimum. That which is least in one sphere may be greatest in another; that which is element of one science may be that which another seeks to analyse into lesser constituents. The celestial body, which is a highly complex combination of elements, may be the unit of astronomical science. The phrase, which is the unit of the rhetorician, is analysed by the logician and the grammarian into terms and words; these are analysed by another science into syllables and letters; these by the mathematician into lines and points. Thus every science has its own (relative) minimum. Only one minimum is absolutely so named,—God as the monad of monads. It is to be noted that the relativity of the monad is dependent upon the origin of its conception, in the conditions of knowledge; it is because quantity is universal that a minimum is necessary, and it is because quantity differs in kind, in each subject of knowledge,—because it is, in scholastic phrase, equivocally applied in the different cases,—that the minima differ from one another. The minimal number is no measure of the minimal body nor of the geometrical figure, and the numbers which are in use among men are not those which may be employed by other and higher rational beings. Thus, even number itself is a relative determination; ten horses, said Bruno, are not really equal to ten men, but only conventionally.
The ancient atomism upon which Bruno founded his theory was, at any rate in its traditional rendering, frankly materialistic. It admitted nothing but atoms and the void, all things else being dependent upon the composition of atoms, which itself, and all that results from it, is merely an appearance to sense, without corresponding reality in nature. All physical operations were explained by mechanical arrangement and movement of the atoms. The method which was pursued thus unscientifically, without consciousness of the extent of its validity, modern atomic theory has followed scientifically, with full comprehension of its bearings, and perhaps without due consideration of its limits. Bruno tells us that he had at one time been an adherent of Democritus’ atomic theory, but on reflection had been unable to rest satisfied with his materialistic account of the nature of things. In this case also he showed himself unable to get rid of the ties which bound all the thought of his time—even that thought which most believed itself to be free.
Aristotle’s distinction of form and matter in nature, of pure activity and pure passivity, had still sufficient influence to render even in Bruno’s time a purely mechanical treatment of nature an impossibility. The opposing school, the Neo-Platonism which attracted so many minds of that period, because of its supposed inconsistency with Aristotle’s system, was itself an offshoot, to some extent, of that system, and was still less scientific in its tendency. Mysticism, of which it was partly a cause and partly an effect, lent its weight also against any mechanical interpretation of nature. Thus even while apparently governed by scientific aspiration, Bruno gives a teleological scheme of the universe which renders any scientific explanation of it impossible. Not only, as we have seen, is the ether identified with the first substance, spirit, or soul of the universe, but also the greater and lesser organic bodies are governed each by its individual soul, which is somehow distinguished from the universal spirit, and within each of these is an infinite number of smaller living bodies. In other words, the atoms themselves are animated virtually, if not actually. This animistic interpretation is in direct conflict with the mechanical interpretation which science has followed, and which it must continue to follow if it is to produce any result. Thus, motion and the changes of composition that derive from motion are explained not by the mechanical impact of atoms and bodies upon one another, but by the action of the intrinsic soul in each being, which causes the motion of the body, in accordance with its need and desire of self-preservation. All motion, even the slightest, is thus explained by a final cause. In the whole universe also, the constantly occurring changes and transformations are due to a similar final cause—the need for each thing to become explicitly that which it already is implicitly, i.e. the whole of reality. It required once more a critical separation of the spheres of validity of the respective conceptions of nature and spirit, such as Kant attempted, before full scope could be given to mechanical interpretation on the one side, and teleology restricted to the domain of spirit only on the other.
CHAPTER VI
THE PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY OF BRUNO
The distinctively ethical teaching of Bruno is contained in the two dialogues—the Spaccio della Bestia Trionfante, and the Heroici Furori. The latter describes the struggles and aspirations of the “heroic” or generous human soul in its pursuit of the infinitely beautiful and good—its efforts towards union with the divine source of all things. To this more constructive work, in which moral philosophy was to be treated according to “the inward light with which the divine sun of intelligence had irradiated” the soul of the writer, the Spaccio was to form an introduction. “It seemed well to begin with a kind of prelude, after the manner of musicians; to draw some dim and confused lines, as painters do; to lay deep bases and dark foundations, as do the great builders; and this end seemed best achieved by putting down in number and in order all the primary forms of morality which are the capital virtues and vices.”[436] The Spaccio, with its shorter appendage, the Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo, contained a bitter attack upon the prevalent forms of Christian religion; it especially attacked the doctrine of the all-sufficiency of faith, which, interpreted as it then was, might stand as the formula of mediaeval corruption and stagnation; and it was upon this dialogue, almost solely, that the reputation Bruno long enjoyed—that of being an atheist—was based. It is therefore well to remember the introductory nature of the work. Had not “atheism” been frequently synonymous with “unorthodoxy,” the Heroic Enthusiasms would have shown on how shallow a foundation the charge rested, for that dialogue breathes the purest religious emotion and aspiration. Bruno had, however, a premonition of the fate that was to befall his memory. He protested, perhaps with a touch of sarcasm, that nothing in his work was said “assertively,”—that he had no wish either directly or indirectly to strike at the truth, to send a shaft against anything that was honourable, useful, natural, and, consequently, divine.[437] His own religion was that which had its beginning, its growth, and its continuance in “the raising of the dead, making whole the sick, and giving of one’s goods”; and not that in the spirit of which the goods of others were seized, the whole maimed, and the living put to death.[438] The conclusions of the Spaccio were not therefore to be regarded as presenting a finished system, but as mere suggestions, to be tested “when the music should be given in concert, the picture finished, the roof put on the building.” On the other hand, it is clear also that in the Spaccio Bruno intended to present a popular moral philosophy, or to point out the degree of virtue which might be attained without the influence of the divine afflatus described in the Enthusiasms. As in the philosophy of Aristotle before Bruno, and in that of Spinoza after him, the perfection of this customary morality formed at the same time the ante-chamber through which alone entrance was to be gained into the inner chamber of divine love. This is the real meaning that underlies the bizarre and at times extravagant humour of the dialogue: it points out the purification to which the human soul must submit before it can become a fitting vessel for the divine enthusiasm.
Faith and works.Before a purer morality can be taught to any avail, there must exist a desire for it in the minds of those to whom it shall be revealed. In the way of Bruno’s proposed reformation there stood the attitude of the Church and of the religious orders towards “faith” and towards “works” respectively. Faith meant merely professed belief in, or acceptance of, their doctrines, and conformity with their practices—blind acceptance and unreasoning conformity—in contrast with which an earthly life that was simply moral was held to be of no value towards the blessed life hereafter. Under the influence of this spirit the worst vices were practised, condoned, and pardoned, even in Bishops and Cardinals, not to speak of the ordinary priests and monks. It is only as embodying this conception that Bruno attacked the Church. Thus Jupiter, in the Spaccio, complains that his powers are decaying:—“I have not vigour enough to pit myself against certain half-men, and I must, to my great chagrin, leave the world to run its course as chance and fortune direct. I am like the old lion of Æsop—the ass kicked it with impunity, the ape played tricks upon it, the pig came and rubbed its dusty paunch upon it, as if it were some lifeless log. My noble oracles, fanes, and altars are thrown down, and most unworthily desecrated; while altars and statues are raised there to some whom I am ashamed to name, for they are worse than our satyrs, fauns, and other half-beasts, viler than the crocodiles of Egypt; for these at least showed some mark of divinity when magically guided, but those are quite the scum of the earth.”[439] Bruno is ironically contrasting the Christian ideal, as he interprets it, with that of the Greeks and Egyptians. The former is that of a being only half-human, half-free; on one side of his nature he is reduced to the level of the beast, the ass, the bearer of burdens, unquestioning, faithful. Again, one of the constellations, the Corona Borealis, is to be left in the heavens, escaping the general fate,[440] until the time when it shall be given in reward to “the invincible arm that shall bring peace, the long-desired, to a miserable, long-suffering Europe, cutting down the many heads of that worse than Lernean monster that is scattering its fateful poison of manifold heresy, and sending it through every portion of her veins.”[441] To this decision of Jupiter, Momus, the critic and wit of the assembly, adds that it would be enough “if a certain sect of pedants could be rooted out, who, doing no good themselves, as the divine and natural law bade, yet thought themselves, and desired to be thought by others, pious and pleasing to the gods; they said that to do good was good, to do evil, evil; but that men gained grace and favour with the gods, not through the good that they did, but through hoping and believing in accordance with their catechism. As if the gods, said Mercury, were anxious about nothing but their own vainglory, cared nothing for the injury caused to human society. And they defame us, Momus continued, by calling this an institution of heaven, decrying effects or fruits; while all the time they are doing no work themselves, but living on the works of others, who instituted temples, chapels, hospices, hospitals, colleges, universities, for quite other men than they. These others, even if they are not perfect, will not, like their usurpers, be perverse and pernicious to the world; they will be useful to the state, skilled in speculative science, studious of morality, fanning zeal and enthusiasm for doing good to one another, and maintaining the common weal for which all laws are ordained. The usurpers are worse than grubs, caterpillars, or destroying locusts, and should be exterminated accordingly.”[442] How is it possible, we read elsewhere, that men should regard that as the highest type of religion which holds behaviour, the doing of good deeds, to be unimportant, or even to be vice and error; or pretends that the gods do not care for good deeds—that through such, however great they are, men are not justified?[443] This creed was a disease that ran through a man’s nature and poisoned it for ever. “When one turned from any other profession or faith to this, his liberality was exchanged for avarice, mildness for insolence, humility for pride; formerly open handed with his own goods, he now became a robber and usurper of those of others; a good man became a hypocrite; a sincere one, cunningly evil; a simple one, malicious; he who was once conscious of his own defects became the most arrogant of men; he who was ready to do any good action, to learn any new knowledge, became prone to every kind of ignorance and ribaldry; he who had merely the makings of a rogue became the worst possible of men.”[444] Miracle-working was the universal means by which the supremacy of faith was maintained. Momus therefore proposed to send Orion upon the earth. “He can do miracles—can walk upon the waves of the sea without sinking or wetting his feet; let us send him among men to make them believe everything we would have them believe—that black is white, that the human intellect is blind where it thinks itself to see best; that what to reason appears excellent, good, best, is vile, wicked, evil in the extreme; that nature is a strumpet, the law of nature a ribaldry; that nature and divinity cannot work together for one and the same good end; that the justice of the one is not subordinate to that of the other, but that they are as contrary as darkness and light.”[445]
Asinity.The attitude of mind which formed the ideal of the Church for its members Bruno typified frequently enough, as we have seen, by the Ass, after Cusanus’ Docta Ignorantia and Agrippa’s praise of Asinity in his work on The Vanity of all Sciences. But they were in earnest: Bruno bitterly ironical. In his Cabala Asinity is given the two places left vacant in the heavens by the council of the gods in the Spaccio: the place of Ursa Major is taken by Asinity in the abstract, that of Eridanus by Asinity in the concrete. The whole work is in praise of “the pure goodness, royal sincerity, magnificent majesty of ignorance, learned foolishness, divine Asinity.”[446] Asinity is in the sphere of practice as submission to authority in that of speculation, or pedantry in that of teaching. Against all of these Bruno casts the shafts of his irony, now broad and heavy, now fine, light and piercing.[447] The list of virtues which Bruno gives as adorning the soul of the renovated man does not present any novelty, except perhaps in the order assigned to the different virtues.[448] Along with each mythical figure of the constellations he names the various vices that are expelled, and into the place of which the virtues come. The Bear, the highest constellation in the heavens, is replaced by Truth, the Dragon by Prudence, Cepheus by Sophia, or Wisdom. The following table shows some of the virtues which occupy the different posts vacated by the mythical beings of the heavens, and their contrary vices.