Last week, I did a source document analysis on an article that I have since struggled to get out of my head. It was written by two professors at UCSC, and their argument was that people today don't understand the universe, and therefore have lost a sense of their place within it. They feel that it's the role of creative people to try to understand the universe and then make it accessible to others, much in the way that Renaissance artists, writers, etc. incorporated scientific concepts into their work. Their message is one that really appeals to me, because if I wasn't an English major, I'd probably be studying physics and astronomy, and what little I've learned about the universe has been so enlightening and awesome.
Fortunately for me, cosmology was so important during the Renaissance that it shows up in a lot of my English studies. Learning about Renaissance cosmology has profoundly influenced my own perspective on the universe, and as I've spent nights under the stars thinking about them from the Renaissance perspective, rather than that of modern science, it has been a truly powerful experience. I think that those two professors were right and that we have lost our connection with the universe, which is really sad to me because I think that my own studies in literature, astronomy, and religion have given me the opportunity to have a closer relationship with and understanding of my place within the universe that have enriched my life. I think that understanding how the people in the Renaissance approached the universe, and how they dealt with Copernicus' heliocentric cosmology is a great place to start in trying to understand how we do and can relate to the universe today.
As I mentioned in my previous learning journal entry, I'm amazed by the depth of history that England has. America, God bless it, just doesn't have the same roots. It's because of those English roots that I think going to England is so important to my study of Renaissance cosmology, literature, and modern humanity's relationship with the universe (let's hope I get this more intensely focused soon!). The English Renaissance had a huge impact, and one which I believe will have been perpetuated through to today. If there's anywhere in the world today that would be likely to have remnants of the Renaissance still clinging, England's the place where that will be, and it will likely be because of the influence of the art, architecture, and literature that will have been built into English culture because so much of it is still available for people to see. The only questions are, how much is there to find, and how do I find it? I certainly can't walk up to people and ask, "How do you feel about the Primum Mobile?" or "What do you think about the music of the spheres?" It certainly won't be that overt. But I'd suspect that those who are interacting with the art, architecture, and literature that depict the Renaissance idea of the cosmos may have a closer relationship with our modern concept of the universe.
In a meeting with Ashley in early December, she told me a story about a guy who attended church in a building that had a large mural depicting Christ on the wall of the chapel. His weekly interaction with the mural profoundly influenced his perception of Christ. I can only predict that similar interaction with Renaissance concepts would be influential on individuals' relationships with the universe. I have an entire page in my notebook with questions on how to approach getting this information, and so I won't post them here now, but it's definitely something I want to explore.
While I'm writing this, I'm seeing two very distinct branches emerging. First, how did people respond to the change in their perception of the structure of the universe? Second, because the geocentric view clung for so long after the heliocentric view took center stage, has it been perpetuated into modernity, and if so, how? While I think the first is more valuable to my English studies, the second is certainly very interesting as well, and it will help me take greater advantage of actually being in England. Perhaps it would be possible to make the second one a sort of sub-section to my project? To be honest, my brain is really struggling to work these two together without making my project too broad and shallow. But maybe that works just as well? Maybe I could trace the influence of post-Copernicus geocentric cosmology concepts in English literature? That sounds like too much for me to ever chew, but at least I feel a little more now like there's a definite value to studying this subject, besides my own personal interest in it.
Going back to the article you were talking about at the beginning of the post, I wonder if people ever had an "understanding of the universe" in the sense that these authors are talking about? It seems that most of us rely on specialist others to comprehend things. We might have a passing familiarity with the things these specialists report, but I don't think most of us think about it more than in passing ... and I don't feel like that's any different than it was in the Renaissance or any other time in history.
ReplyDeleteAs far as your project question, I wonder if you could explore something about how people today perceive "the structure of the universe," or the process by which they gain these understandings?