History and Philosophy of Western Astronomy

Contents

• Introduction
• Philosophical Backdrop
  • 7th Century B.C.E.
  • Sophists
  • Socrates
  • Plato
  • Religious Philosophy
  • Pythagorean Paradigm
• Plato's Homework Problem
  • Observations Against a Moving Earth
  • Plato's Instrumentalism
  • Aristotle's Realism
  • Ptolemy's Geocentric Universe
• Renaissance
  • 16th Century Paradigm
  • Occam's Razor
  • Copernicus's Heliocentric Universe
  • Tycho Brahe's excellent observations
  • Review Questions
• Battle with the Church
  • Church's Structure
  • Giordano Bruno
  • Galileo Galilei
  • Epistemology
  • Confrontational Style
  • Review Questions
• Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
  • Johaness Kepler
  • Choosing Heliocentricism
  • Elliptical Orbits
  • Variable Speed
  • Distance and Period
  • Review Questions
• Logic of Discovery? Beliefs and Objectivity
  • Scientific Applications
  • Creationary Resonance
  • Evolutionary Resonance
  • Creative Logical Process
  • Influence of Paradigms on Science
  • Interpreting Facts
  • Self-correction in Science
  • Reality Kicks Back
• References