The Harmony of the World
Johannes Kepler
American Philosophical Society
Harmonices Mundi is one of Johannes Keplers major works and this translation is a superb work of immense scholarship. Johannes Keplers The Harmony of the World is divided into five books: One regular polygons on the congruence of figures on the origin of harmonic proportions on harmonic configurations in astrology on the harmony of the motions of the heavens. As translated from Kepler, «Finite things which are circumscribed and shaped can also be grasped by the mind: infinite and unbounded things, insofar as they are such, can be held in by no bonds of knowledge, which is obtained from definitions, by no bonds of constitutions. For shapes are in the archetype prior to their being in the product in the divine mind prior to being in creatures, differently indeed in respect of their subject, but the same in the form of their essence. « Using the original figures from Keplers work, the translators include a careful introduction and meticulous notes. The Harmony Of The World is more than just a major milestone in the history of western thought, it is a seminal work that is still rewarding for the reader even as we are entering the 21st century.