The “Christian Natural Philosophy” of Otto Casmann (1562–1607): A Case Study of Early Modern Mosaic Physics
Abstract
This article aims to present a detailed analysis of the “Christian natural philosophy” elaborated by the German humanist philosopher and theologian Otto Casmann (1562–1607) in his various works. To this end, Casmann’s general idea of philosophia Christiana is discussed and critically evaluated. Regarding natural philosophy, or physics, attention is paid mainly to topics such as cosmogony and cosmology, which Casmann promised to have developed biblically and independently of the pagan (namely Aristotelian) tradition. However, when Casmann’s natural philosophy is analyzed in detail, his resolute emphasis on the literal reading of the Bible, the cornerstone of his entire concept, turns out to be problematic. Similarly, despite his resolutions, his natural-philosophical views are, to a considerable extent, still dependent on Aristotelian terms and concepts.
Keywords
Otto Casmann; Mosaic physics; Christian natural philosophy; Aristotle
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University of Ostrava Czechia
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8935-1189
Jan Čížek – studied philosophy and history at Palacký University, Olomouc (Czech Republic) where he received his PhD (2014). Currently, he is an associate professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Ostrava (Czech Republic). His research interest lies in the history of Renaissance and early modern philosophy (encyclopedism, political philosophy, natural philosophy) and the work of Jan Amos Comenius. Jan Čížek has published two (the third one to be published in August 2024) monographs and more than twenty academic papers in English, German, and Czech language.
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