Kepler’s Harmony of the World and the Politics of Harmony

Abstract

Kepler's 1619 Harmonice Mundi was a text that straddled the divide between celestial and terrestrial harmony. It focused on harmony in a variety of aspects—mathematical, musical, astrological, astronomical, and cosmological— while also linking them to Kepler's ultimate goal, the harmony of church and state. This talk will consider Kepler's vision of harmony in the Harmonice Mundi by situating it alongside both traditional conceptions of harmony and the particular seventeenth-century changes that influenced Kepler's own view. It will focus in particular on Kepler's dedication of the Harmonice Mundi to James I of England, and on the political digression he placed at its center. Kepler signaled throughout the book that the harmony of nature could provide a blueprint for harmony in communities on earth. In so doing, however, he positioned himself against the views of Jean Bodin and other theorists who tried to bolster absolutist government with the claim of mathematical certainty, and emphasized instead a vision of communal harmony that allowed for the public good to be achieved via multiple possible configurations, and for diverse perspectives to coexist in one peaceful community.