Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) articulated a cosmological theory discounting the geocentric Ptolemaic universe.However he did not abandon the Ptolemaic cosmogony all together. Following an aristotelian method of knowledge buildt upon sense perceptions, his observations resulted in a universe limited by the sphere of the fixed stars. Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) critized this limited scheme. His theories of the infinite universe and the multiplicity of worlds rejected the traditional geocentric (or Earth-centred) astronomy but also went beyond the Copernican heliocentric model.
Following the concepts of Nikolaus von Cues (1401-1464) he argued that the earth is not the centre of the universe, as the centre of things is everywhere and that the sphere of the fixed stars is only a trick of the eye because the fixed stars are too far away to recognize their movement by sensual perception.
In his works ‘De l’infinito, universo e mondi’ and ‘De la causa, principio et uno’ he described a coincidence of the ‘one’ (tutto) and the ‘many’ (moltitudine) where the ‘one’ is the infinite universe and the ‘many’ is an infinite number of finite worlds and things within. He claimed that the sensual perception is limited and therefore the ‘one’ can not be understood through observation. The coincidence of infinite universe and an infinite number of finite parts within allowed him to consider the separation and unity of things at the same time.