Macrocosm and microcosm

"Macrocosm" redirects here. For Star Trek episode, see Macrocosm (Star Trek: Voyager). For album, see Macrocosm (album).
By looking down, I see up. Part of a pair of illustrations in Tycho Brahe's Astronomiæ instauratæ Mechanica depicting his understanding of the connection between macrocosm and microcosm.
By looking up, I see down.

Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale (macrocosm or universe-level) all the way down to the smallest scale (microcosm or sub-sub-atomic or even metaphysical-level). In the system the midpoint is Man, who summarizes the cosmos.

Macrocosm/microcosm is a Greek compound of μακρο- macro- and μικρο- micro-, which are Greek respectively for "large" and "small", and the word κόσμος kósmos which means "order" as well as "world" or "ordered world."

Today, the concept of microcosm has been dominated by sociology to mean a small group of individuals whose behavior is typical of a larger social body encompassing it. A microcosm can be seen as a special kind of epitome. Conversely, a macrocosm is a social body made of smaller compounds.

See also

References

    1. Republic, Plato, trans. By B. Jowett M.A., Vintage Books, NY. § 435, pg 151

    Bibliography

    External links

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