ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how contraction played a significant role in Giordano Bruno's conception of the universe. In Bruno's philosophy, contraction in the ontological sense is used in his theory of individuation to describe how a universal, infinite and singular substance relates to the individual entities dependent upon it. Bruno's theory of individuation is probably Aristotelian in origin, though it also adopts elements from non-Aristotelian philosophies. The chapter sets out the metaphysical context of contraction. The Sigillus and the Spaccio present the epistemological and ethical consequences of the metaphysical considerations of substance. The chapter explores the idea of the capacity of the recipient, matter, in order to explain contraction as produced by matter. Bruno's point of departure is the traditional Aristotelian interpretation of matter, according to which matter is pure, passive potentiality. Matter denotes Bruno's material principle of the universal substance.
