The origin of material reality under Robert Grosseteste's metaphysical optics

Abstract

We aimed to understand the origin of material reality from the perspective of metaphysics of light, by Robert Grosseteste, English philosopher and medieval theologian, (13th century), whose historical period is still prejudiced by fallacies, influenced by the ideas of Plato, Saint Augustine and later by the writings of Aristotle, Grosseteste believed that light plays a primary role in the creation of matter, the heart of the Macrocosm, presenting the theory that God produced the physical world by first creating matter, from which emanated a point of light, originating the first bodily form of energy characterized by the manifestation of visible light. Two works of this author were chosen as main source of research used here, the first of which is The Treatise on Light (De Luce), a booklet written by Robert Grosseteste. The second source of research used here is another treatise by Robert Grosseteste, entitled On the finitude of time and movement (De finitate motus et temporis), in which he put himself in opposition to Aristotle, who judged movement to be eternal ("sempiternus" = no beginning), claiming three arguments in favor of his thesis, which are successively refuted by Grosseteste. Grosseteste's hypotheses supported the notion that the physical universe consists primarily of light, and all its multiplicity of space, time, inert things and living beings, subsists in different forms, assuming a unique and fundamental energy, until Modern Science became viable to formulate the Big Bang theory.