Similarities Between Kepler And Kepler 's Platonist Geometric Cosmology

Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for

In concordance with Christian doctrines, this system implies that heaven and the throne of God lie beyond the tenth sphere. On the other hand, during the first half of the 16th century, Polish cleric Copernicus developed an astronomical model which positions the motionless Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth, the moon, and six other planets revolving at a constant speed around it. He argues that all stars were at rest and that their nightly movements are simply indications of the earth’s rotation. However, members of the Church, especially Protestants, who interpreted the Bible literally, refused to grant Copernicus credit for his theory. Nevertheless, once released among the population, the Copernican theory raised support from various scholars, a few of whom, such as Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo, went on to dedicate their career to solidify its legitimacy. With their use of mathematical reasoning, instead of antic philosophy, the Copernican theory finally became justified among the population. Pertaining to its influence among laypeople, the Copernican theory raised various questions against the

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) was a German astronomer who believed in the heliocentric theory. Kepler is a clear example of the narrow line that separated science and religion. Nonetheless, his ideas would show that things could be solved through reason alone. He believed that the harmony of the human soul could be found through numerical relationships that existed between planets. He found that the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Uranus, Jupiter, and Saturn all revolved at different times. For example, the earth revolved around the sun in a year while Saturn revolved around the sun in fifty years. From this, Kepler found a mathematical ratio, nine to the two-thirds power, to explain this phenomenon. This was revolutionary to humanity’s place in the universe. People were shocked that the universe could be explained by math alone rather than religion. This went strongly

Aristotle’s model of the universe was a geocentric universe. This meant that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and that all stars were on a celestial sphere. A celestial sphere is an imaginary sphere which acts as a dome around the Earth from which you can see the stars and the universe. Although Aristotle’s model was good for its time it could not explain retrograde motion of the planets.

All his writings consisted of numerous references to God. He saw his work as a fulfilment of his Christian duty to understand the works of God. Kepler believed that God had made the Universe according to a mathematical plan. Although, Kepler did thank God for granting him insights, but the insights were still presented as rational. While studying theology at the university at Tubingen, he fell under the influence of Michael Mastlin. He then abandoned theology and became a teacher of astronomy and mathematics in Austria. Johannes Kepler’s work illustrated the narrow line that would separate magic and science in the early Scientific Revolution. Kepler compared numerical relationships between planets in harmony of the human soul. He described it as discovering the "music of the spheres." Overtime, Johannes Kepler devised the three laws of planetary motion. He confirmed Copernicus' heliocentric theory, and eliminated the scientific possibility of crystalline spheres moving in perfectly circular orbits. Eventually, Johannes Kepler’s three laws affected the eliminated idea of uniform circular motion. By the end of Kepler’s life, the Ptolemaic system rapidly lost its ground to the new ideas. Many questions do remain unanswered. However, it was an Italian scientist who achieved an important break through to a new cosmology by answering the first question and striding through the

The article, The New Astronomy and Cosmology of the Scientific Revolution, states, “Tycho’s accurate observations of planetary positions, made it possible Kepler’s reconceptualization of the Copernican revolutions as eclipses rather than perfect circles.” (Saylor Foundation 3). The observations that Brahe concluded benefited Kepler’s with his laws of the planetary motions. Kepler used Brahe’s accurate observations for his planetary law of motion. The article also states, “Tycho’s observation of a falling star also made possible the conception of space as isotropic and non-hierarchical.

The Ptolemaic view of the motions of the stars was earth centric, or geocentric. Ptolemy believed that all the planets revolved around the earth, the earth was the center of the universe. Copernicus on the other hand held the belief that the universe revolved around the sun, or that the universe was heliocentric. Copernicus also only considered there to only be six planets, as he didn’t count the moon like Ptolemy. Kepler held similar beliefs t Copernicus, and believed that the reason why a god-created universe only had six planets instead of seven was based on Plato’s idea of the five Platonic Solids. That just like there are only five forms of matter and five platonic solids, the universe must have been intelligently created in a similar

Prior to Galileo’s time, the Greek and medieval mind, science was a kind of formalism, a means of coordinating data, which had no bearing on the ultimate reality of things. The point was to give order to complicated data, and all that mattered was the hypothesis that was simplest to understand and most convenient. Astronomy and mathematics were regarded as the playthings of intellectuals. They were accounted as having neither philosophical nor theological relevance. There was genuine puzzlement among Churchmen that they had to get involved in a quarrel over planetary orbits.

first person to study stars in the universe According to him, the Sun, the Moon, the planets, and the stars travel in separate spheres. When the spheres touch each other, a 'music of the spheres' can be heard proved that the Earth is spherical.

Since an essential idea of the medieval perspective toward the structure of the universe was the perfection of the planets and the position of God and his realm above them, Newton’s notions of bodies throughout the universe operating and functioning similarly dismantled this entire structure. If all other planets were governed by the same natural laws that Earth was governed on, these planets could not have been perfect nor led a hierarchy of perfection as the medieval philosophers and astronomists arranged. The medieval people were able to classify these planets as flawless celestial spheres based on the observation from their limited sight, which deems this system problematic. To Newton, this idea of a universe unified by its all encompassing

Kuhn (1957) explained that by the sixteenth century, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) revised the Copernican system in a fundamental way (p. 210). Kepler's arguments are the same as Copernicus', according to Kuhn (p. 210). However, Kepler discarded all epicycles and thought the earth including other planets orbit the sun in elliptic orbits (Kuhn, 1957, p. 210). Also, Kepler resolved the problem of the planets, transformed Copernicus' cumber some system to a sample and correct technique for computing planetary place, according to Kuhn (p. 211). According to Kuhn (1957), Kepler thought the planes of the orbits should intersect in the sun since the sun is central to all planets (p. 210).

Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer and mathematician who lived between 1671-1630. Kepler was a Copernican and initially believed that planets should follow perfectly circular orbits (“Johan Kepler” 1). During this time period, Ptolemy’s geocentric theory of the solar system was accepted. Ptolemy’s theory stated that Earth is at the center of the universe and stationary; closest to Earth is the Moon, and beyond it, expanding towards the outside, are Mercury, Venus, and the Sun in a straight line, followed by Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the “fixed stars”. The Ptolemaic system explained the numerous observed motions of the planets as having small spherical orbits called epicycles (“Astronomy” 2). Kepler is best known for introducing three

As humans we have always try to understand how the universe really works. How does the moon form? How does water really flow? How did the earth form? To provide some explanation on how the stars and the planet worked Nicolaus Corpernicus “an astronomer and mathematician” created “his own celestial model of a heliocentric planetary system.” His theory was there are multiple Center in the celestial sphere where the moon and stars exist. The earth is the center and the planets does not rotate around it. The sun is close to the midpoint of the world, but the spheres doesn’t rotate around it either. The stars are located on a permanent sphere, which is considered the firmament and does not move, and the earth has multiple motion which not only

The Copernican Revolution involves the exchange of a “geocentric” worldview to a “heliocentric” view and is inseparably linked to the “scientific revolution” of the seventeenth century movement that represents a renewal of all scientific knowledge of the time. Contrary to popular belief, the “idea that the Earth was round” was written by many ancient Greek texts, and was supported by many philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Archimedes, Eratosthenes and Ptolemy, among others. (Cohen, 30) During the

According to Aristotle, the earth is the center of the universe, and the sun, moon, and other planets revolve around the earth. The heavenly bodies are not made of the four terrestrial elements, though are constituted of a superior fifth element (i.e. “quintessence”). Furthermore, the heavily bodies have supernatural intellects or souls that guide them in their movements through the cosmos. Even the best scientific works made by Aristotle are now historical interest.