Kepler on How We Learn

Johannes Kepler, anonymous portrait (1610)

Quippe mihi non multo minus admirandæ videntur occasiones, quibussi homines in cognationem rerum cœlestium deveniunt; quam ipsa Natura rerum cœlestium.

I find the ways by which humankind comes to an understanding of the celestial mechanics almost as wonderous as the nature of the heavenly matters themselves.

–Johannes Kepler, Argumenta singulorum capitum, “Astronomia Nova” (1609) in: Johannes Keplers Gesammelte Werke, vol. 3, p. 47, lines 19–21)(S.H. transl.)