I wonder if there were no theological reasons to bash on Aristotle back in those days (or even rather petty ones, like upending/deconstructing an erstwhile hero of scholarship). The idea that nature abhors a vacuum is something which easily survives the air pressure experiments -- vacuum has nothing to resist matter intruding upon it, and in this formulation it is fairly consistent with our current understanding of physics.
Copernicus was quite pious and interested in metaphysical (like Newton). There is some evidence that he got a copy of Picatrix from someone (don't recall what relation) in Poland or Germany, and more evidence that his confidence in the Sun being the center of the universe stemmed from his understanding or Sun being the God's "chair of the king" mentioned in esoteric texts, which moved him to rethink the orbits in heliocentric manner. It thus seems like this was less of a detailed data driven endeavor than religious metaphysical zeal.
Well done! Excellent brief history of major changes in our collective understanding of nature in the early days of mosern Science. Love it! Any plans to discuss David Hume? I hear he has a spot in the philosophy and history of Science.
Doesn't nature still abhor a vacuum anyway? I was taught that! Doesn't it help the pump- along with the atmospheric pressure? Even 'empty space' isn't a vacuum....
BTW-pretty weird that we haven't been back to the moon or even made another soft landing on the moon in 50 years! Huh? Odd.
"A robotic lander built by a private company suffered a technical problem on its way to the moon on Monday, threatening to upend the first U.S. soft lunar landing in over 50 years."
I wonder if there were no theological reasons to bash on Aristotle back in those days (or even rather petty ones, like upending/deconstructing an erstwhile hero of scholarship). The idea that nature abhors a vacuum is something which easily survives the air pressure experiments -- vacuum has nothing to resist matter intruding upon it, and in this formulation it is fairly consistent with our current understanding of physics.
Copernicus was quite pious and interested in metaphysical (like Newton). There is some evidence that he got a copy of Picatrix from someone (don't recall what relation) in Poland or Germany, and more evidence that his confidence in the Sun being the center of the universe stemmed from his understanding or Sun being the God's "chair of the king" mentioned in esoteric texts, which moved him to rethink the orbits in heliocentric manner. It thus seems like this was less of a detailed data driven endeavor than religious metaphysical zeal.
Well done! Excellent brief history of major changes in our collective understanding of nature in the early days of mosern Science. Love it! Any plans to discuss David Hume? I hear he has a spot in the philosophy and history of Science.
Doesn't nature still abhor a vacuum anyway? I was taught that! Doesn't it help the pump- along with the atmospheric pressure? Even 'empty space' isn't a vacuum....
BTW-pretty weird that we haven't been back to the moon or even made another soft landing on the moon in 50 years! Huh? Odd.
"A robotic lander built by a private company suffered a technical problem on its way to the moon on Monday, threatening to upend the first U.S. soft lunar landing in over 50 years."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/united-launch-alliance-moon-vulcan-peregrine-1.7077123
Excellent presentation, sir! I really look forward to your book.
Thanks for the kind words.