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Thesis statement of heliocentric theory
Essay about heliocentric theory
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The Heliocentric Theory vs. The Catholic Church
We view the world today as the Earth and planets revolving around the Sun.
Naturally, this always wasn't the case. Aristotle created a model in which since God
created the Earth and man, therefore everything should revolve around us, creating a
geocentric model of the known universe. This model was widely accepted by the people,
as well as the Church, since the theory was God-centered. It wasn't until Aristotle's time
when scientists started to challenge this model due to advances in technology and
theories, and the heliocentric model was starting to take form, which went againts what
the Church strongly believed. In this paper I will explain the creation of the heliocentric
model, and the Church's reactions and responses to the new works on a sun-centered
universe.
During the Renaissance, many began to "toss aside medieval preoccupations with
supernatural forces and turned to secular concerns." (Yamasaki, p.50) During this time,
people began to think for themselves and ponder truths through philosophy, science,
astronomy, astrology, etc. Philosophers' minds began to turn, the human mind was finally
awake. At the time, the thought of heavenly bodies being divine, and stars being eternal
objects in unchanging motion were common knowledge.
A philosopher, scientsit, and one of Plato's pupils, Aristotle, was also a very
important figure. Born in Stagira in 384, Aristotle is regarded as the most influential
ancient philosopher of the sciences. Aristotle refined Callippus' geometrical and spherical
concepts, and developed the geocentric theory, which was believed for many years. Being
under Plato's teachings, Aristotle ...
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Society of America, 1970.
Morphet, Clive. Galileo and Copernican Astronomy: A scientific world view defined.
Boston: Buttherworths, 1977.
Silverburg, Robert. Four Men Who Changed the Universe. New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1968. Information on four figures who changed science: Copernicus, Galileo,
Kepler, and Brahe. Quotes and facts on all four of these men were used in my report.
"Copernican System." Passages from De Revolutionibus.
http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Things/copernican_system.html Website containing
information on Galileo, and other science-related things involving Galileo.
Sis, Peter. Starry Messenger. New York: Frances Foster Books, 1996.
Yamasaki, Mitch. The Scientific Revolution in Pre-Modern Europe. Honolulu, Hawaii:
National History Day, 1998.
"Galileo," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 96 Encyclopedia. (c)1993-1995 Microsoft Corp.
Bragg, Melvyn, On Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
The main argument which Galileo’s opponents used against his theory was that in many places in the Bible it is mentioned that the Earth stands still and that the Sun revolves around it. Galileo himself was a devout Christian and did not mean to question God’s power or the Holy Writ with his work. As a result, to support his claim, he developed three logical arguments in his letter, which he backed with the opinions of leading Christian authorities, in order to prove that science can reinforce religion rather than discredit it.
religion and natural philosophy that holds up beyond his personal feelings, proven through his various works and discoveries. The Aristotelian view of the universe was based upon a common sense argument that gave credit to many discoveries throughout antiquity. Those discoveries were based upon a mix of science and scripture that was regarded as fact. Galileo brings something different to the table, the notion of observation. In appealing to observation, Galileo is able to make a clear distinction between religion and natural philosophy that is credible beyond his personal beliefs.
The team of Tycho Brahe and John Keppler were the next to study Copernicus’ theory. Brahe tried to disprove Copernicus’ theory and tried to prove the idea of the earth-centered universe. Although Keppler was Brahe’s assistant, he argued for Copernicus and analyzed Brahe’s data to conclude that the sun was the center of the universe. Keppler also used Brahe’s data to discover the movement of the planet Mars. This was the key to explaining all planetary motion. ii He also discovered the planets move in elliptical orbits, which also went against the beliefs of the church. Kepp...
In _____date_______, Galileo wrote a letter to the church addressing the church for throwing out evidence that the solar system is heliocentric. They did this because it contradicts the bible. He then counters with the fact that the bible often uses metaphors and symbolism to convey its message; therefore, it should not always be taken so literally. Then he goes on to explain that based on this, we should not use the bible to find scientific fact, but we should experiment and base our knowledge on that which we find through the senses. He stresses, however, the importance that the bible still has, and says that the bible should be appreciated for its messages rather than its statements.
The Catholic Church stated, “The proposition that the sun is in the center of the world and immovable from its place is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures’(Doc.2). This shows the hindrance that the church creates to impede the advancement of science. As known today, the sun is the center of the solar system. Even while Galileo and Copernicus knew that this was the correct arrangement of the solar system and even had evidence, the church still dismissed them and stopped them from sharing their thoughts and
Galileo Galilei was an Italian philosopher born in 1564. As an adult, he didn’t believe the universal geocentric theory of the planets and heavens which was established by the Catholic Church. The church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around our planet. Another theory that the Church supported was that the Earth stood still while the sun rose and set every day. Society in the 1500’s believed that the Pope spoke for God through a divine connection and to against the church was to go against God. To speak out against the church in this time was strictly taboo. If one was to speak against the church was considered to be heresy, which is exactly what happened to Galileo. Galileo invented the telescope and began studying the heavens above and noticed that changes within the stars and planets. He noticed that the “stars” that surrounded Jupiter moved. He came to the conclusion through rational thinking, that the Copernicus’ heliocentric theory was correct. Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the church not to aboli...
A key parallel between the scientific revolution and the enlightenment was the decreasing belief in authority. The scientific revolution lead to great advances in astronomy, mathematics, geography, botany and medicine (7). A key discovery was that of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory (2). The heliocentric theory proposed that the sun was at the centre of the universe as opposed to the earth which was the common belief held strongly at the time. Copernicus discovered that the sun was at the centre of the universe, and that the moon orbited the earth while the earth orbited the sun. This theory raised profound qu...
Galileo was born in 1564 in a time where society was very conforming to the teachings of the church. Despite his discoveries, Galileo was very religious though he tied religion and science into his life. Galileo’s great contribution to science was the telescope, however his greater contribution was the gift of awareness and knowledge. Before Galileo, it was generally accepted that the earth was the center of the universe. This was not based upon data or facts, but merely because the church said so. Prior to the seventeenth century, Europe was stuck in the med-evil era of church teachings. With Galileo’s telescope, however, he was able to show that the sun rather than the earth was the center of the universe. Although this new discovery had a large scientific value, it had a larger impact to society on a religious level.
world was to me a secret which I desired to divine. Curiosity, earnest research to learn the hidden laws of nature, gladness akin to rapture, as they were unfolded to me, are among the earliest sensations I can remember (22).
The modern science view as well as the Scientific Revolution can be argued that it began with Copernicus’ heliocentric theory; his staunch questioning of the prior geocentric worldview led to the proposal of a new idea that the Earth is not in fact the center of the solar system, but simply revolving around the Sun. Although this is accepted as common sense today, the period in which Copernicus proposed this idea was ground-breaking, controversial, and frankly, world-changing. The Church had an immense amount of power, and was a force to be reckoned with; in the beginning of the Scientific Revolution, new scientific proposals and ideas were discouraged in many cases by the Church. A quote from Galileo’s Children does an excellent job summing up the conflict: “The struggle of Galileo against Church dogma concerning the nature of the cosmos epitomized the great, inevitable and continuing clash between religion and reason.” If evidence goes against scripture, the scientist is considered a heretic and is, like in Galileo’s case, forbidden to discuss the ideas any further. Galileo Galilei, who proposed solid evidence and theory supporting the heliocentric model, was forced to go back on his beliefs in front of several high officials, and distance himself from the Copernican model. This, luckily, allowed him to not be killed as a heretic, which was the next level of punishment for the crimes he was charged with, had he not went back on his beliefs. Incredible support was given through the young developing academies with a sense of community for scientists and academics; “Renaissance science academies represent a late manifestation of the humanist academy movement.” Since the Church was grounded traditionally evidence that went agains...
improved by Aristotle. But Galileo came up with a new argument named heliocentrism. In a long
Out of all the thinkers that pursued this cause, Thomas Aquinas might be revolutionary. Not only does Aquinas attempt to improve upon the labor of his predecessors, but he also brings their work into his sacred theology. Aquinas decided to synthesize the teachings of Aristotle with the dogma of the Catholic Church. Even by contemporary standards, this should seem at least a bit backwards. However, by the standards of Aquinas' peers, this was probably seen as nothing short of blasphemy. Aristotle was not more than a symbol of paganism and ignorance to the Medievals, so merging the two different thought styles was an enormous achievement and a huge risk. But Aquinas’s metaphysics does not just summarize Aristotle. It makes many key changes and corrections to Aristotle in order to bring out his argument. From all this and through his own work, Thomas concludes ...
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...
Nicholaus Copernicus is one of the most well known astronomers of all time. He is even labeled as the founder of modern astronomy for the proposition of his heliocentric theory (“Nicolaus Copernicus”, Scientists: Their Lives and Works). The heliocentric theory was revolutionary for Copernicus’ time. Copernicus lived during the Renaissance. “The era of the Renaissance (roughly 1400-1600) is usually known for the “rebirth” of an appreciation of ancient Greek and Roman art forms, along with other aspects of classical teachings that tended to diminish the virtually exclusive concentration on religious teachings during the preceding centuries of the “Dark Ages.” New thinking in science was also evident in this time…” This time period became known as the scientific revolution (“Copernicus: On The Revolutions Of Heavenly Bodies). In other words, old ideas were revived in the arts and other means and less emphasis was placed o...