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Die Copernicanische Revolution als Geschichtszeichen: Zur Entstehung der Transformationskosmologie
Abstract This paper addresses the question of how cosmology and history, as well as science and mythopoiesis, are related to each other. The symbolic significance of Copernicus’ astronomical “revolution” from the early modern period until today illustrates the orientational function of cosmology and its role between empiricism and theory, natural science and society. The cosmological aspect of the Copernican revolution can become re-readable as a “sign of history” in Kant’s sense, insofar as it emphasizes the reference to transformation processes as such instead of stories of progress or decay. This touches on both methodological and practical, epistemological and political, symbolic and historical-ontological aspects. From such a general cosmological perspective, the various transformation theories stemming from the natural, cultural, and social sciences can be addressed as dimensions of a common context against the background of the debates about the planetary role of humanity in the Anthropocene. We call this multidimensional view, the mythical and scientific beginnings of which in the early modern period are explored here, transformational cosmology.
Keywords Nicolaus Copernicus; Karl Marx; Renaissance; Scientific Revolution; Anthropocene; cosmology; myth; history of science; transformation; transformational cosmology
