Next Page | Contents | Previous Page
The publication of "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (De revolutionibus orbium coelestium)" by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) in 1543 marked a complete break from the entire system of ancient astronomy previously conceived by Greek scientists such as Eudoxus, Callipus, Aristotle, Apollonius, Hipparchus, and ultimately by Claudius Ptolemy. The system which those Greeks had developed has been termed the geocentric (Earth-centered) theory of the universe. The new system which Copernicus propounded has been termed the heliocentric (Sun-centered) theory of the universe.
By ascribing to the Earth a daily spin on its own axis, which gyrated, and an annual orbit around the Sun, which was stationary, Copernicus evolved a new system of the universe which opposed Aristotle, who had cogently argued the fixity of the Earth. This provided a superior alternative to Ptolemy's geocentric universe, which had been propounded in his "Mathematical Compositions" (also known as "The Almagest") and which dominated the astronomical conception of humanity for over 1400 years.
In Western Christendom the views of Aristotle and Ptolemy had been elevated to the level of religious dogma, and to many thoughtful intellectuals of the Renaissance, those views stifled further development in science and were long overdue for revision. The geocentric theory had also been used as the "scientific" basis for the Christian theological/cosmological notion of a two-dimensional flat world existing sandwiched in parallel between Heaven above and Hell below. Copernicus was the first to successfully challenge the authorities of antiquity. In his search for a true picture of the "divinely ordained cosmos", Copernicus dethroned the Earth from the center of the cosmos and opened a new path which was to lead to the eventual dethronement of "God" himself.
Copernicus, however, refrained from publishing his work for nearly two decades. He feared the ecclesiastical jitteriness, which arose out of the dissensions between Catholics and Protestants. For his work might cause sufficient scandal for him to be charged with impugning the "authority" of the Church through his assertion that the earth was neither fixed nor at the center of the universe. That assertion might be construed as contradicting one "authorized" literal interpretation of certain passages in the Bible. But Copernicus was finally prevailed upon by his friends to allow his student, Rheticus, to publish his work. Toward the end of 1542, Copernicus was seized with apoplexy and paralysis; on May 24, 1543, an advance copy of his work was presented to him. On that same day he died, leaving behind a magnificent contribution -- a revolution in man's concept of the universe.
No longer could the Earth be considered to be the center of the universe nor could it be considered the epitome of creation or the center of all change and decay with the changeless cosmos encompassing it, for it was now a planet just like the others, simply yielding to mathematical description. No longer was it accurate to state that the Sun "rose" or "set" upon the Earth nor was it valid to view the universe in terms of "up" and "down" or "above" and "below", for those concepts were all perceptual delusions and had meaning only within the confines of the geocentric universe.
The revolution of knowledge that began with the publication of "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" and led to the further discoveries by Johann Kepler (1571-1630), Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), and Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is rightly termed "The Copernican Revolution". The value of the Copernican Revolution, however, does not end in the fact that Copernicus brought about a complete shift in man's philosophical conception of the universe. He epitomized a revolution in man's consciousness as well.
Through his identification of the physical structure of the universe, Copernicus eloquently demonstrated the power of reason and consciousness when unhindered by perceptivity-bound preconceptions. Through Copernicus, the universe evolved from a mere sensory/perceptual experience into a conceptual scheme or design which transcended immediate human perception. For perceptivity-centered consciousness does not take perceptual experiences as data but as conclusions, whereas conceptuality-centered consciousness takes experience, perceptual as well as conceptual, as data and constructs a model that reflects the structural design of the universe. There is a subtle but unmistakable distinction between the two, and that distinction is what the Copernican Revolution exemplified in the history of human consciousness.
Next Page | Contents | Previous Page
Disclaimer - Copyright - Contact
Online: buildfreedom.org - terrorcrat.com - mind-trek.com