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History reveals that around 200 B.C, less than five decades after Aristarchus' exquisite formulation of the celestial system, the geocentric concept of the universe, despite its inherent theoretical difficulty, became more and more adopted by the power structure of the Western world -- by the master neocheaters operating through their governments. The geocentric concept achieved prominence over the heliocentric system not because it was superior theoretically but because it was more expedient politically. It was not a scientific decision but a political strategy that made the geocentric system the "official" picture of the universe.
The geocentric school of astronomy began with Eudoxus of Cnidus (409-356 B.C.), an eminent resident at the academy of Plato (427-347 B.C.), several decades after Philolaus had postulated his distinctively non-geocentric theory. Eudoxus' theory was further developed by Callipus (c. 325 B.C.), Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Apollonius (c. 220 B.C.), Hipparchus (190-120 B.C.), and finally Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria (A.D. 85-165).
Eudoxus, after developing a certain mathematical procedure, evolved the first geocentric model of the celestial system wherein he assigned a spherical shell to every periodic movement that centered upon the Earth, a combination of such spheres describing reasonably well the complex periodic movement of a particular celestial body. All of the spheres were fixedly embedded in the surfaces of the spheres farther out. In this manner he explained the motions of the celestial system by using twenty-seven spheres, one for the fixed stars, three each for the Sun and the Moon, and four each for the five known planets -- Venus, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
As new periodic phenomena were identified, the system had to be expanded. Callipus gave each celestial body an extra sphere, bringing the total up to thirty-four, while Aristotle added a further twenty-two spheres. In the field of astronomy Aristotle was responsible for the idea that the spheres which carried the celestial bodies along their paths were real physical entities, not mere geometrical constructions as Eudoxus had previously supposed and Ptolemy would later postulate. (His strong adherence to objective reality did not allow Aristotle to view his theory as a mere geometrical construction without any corresponding existence in the universe.) He also believed that the outermost sphere of the fixed stars was moved by the Primum Mobile (the Prime Mover) which governed the entire universe.
Unlike the heliocentric system which originally came from the ancient navigator-businessmen's business-based integration of reality, i.e., the sphericity of the Earth, the geocentric theory was purely an academic enterprise and entailed many difficulties from the very beginning. Furthermore, it not only was an extremely complex theory technically but also became progressively more complex throughout its development. Heraclides' model of the spinning Earth was one of the attempts made to overcome those difficulties within the context of the geocentric universe. During the Alexandrian period, Apollonius, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy also tried to overcome the limitations inherent in the geocentric system, again within the conceptual framework of the geocentric model. They failed to take into account the validity of the heliocentric concept developed by Aristarchus through his remarkable hypotheses.
Apollonius and Hipparchus both developed the system of eccentrics and epicycles. Apollonius suggested that if a planet moved in a circle, the epicycle, the center of which moved upon another circle, the deferent, which centered upon the Earth, then the motions of the planets could be quantitatively accounted for. He further suggested that the celestial bodies moved in circles eccentric to the Earth, the center of their orbits lying at some distance from the center of the Earth. Hipparchus further developed Apollonius' concept. Ptolemy adopted and evolved the system of eccentrics and epicycles used by Hipparchus to explain the apparent motions of the celestial system.
Ptolemy himself made a discovery which showed that the whole system of the geocentric universe could not have any physical existence as Aristotle had suggested: Ptolemy seems to have regarded his scheme as a mere mathematical convenience. (In other words, he admitted that his geocentric system was a mathematical rationalization!) Thus, in Ptolemy, the geocentric construction of the universe had reached its theoretical perfection and, despite its inherent difficulty and rationalized complexity, it dominated the scientific world for the next 1400 years.
However, long before Ptolemy completed his celestial theory as described in his "Mathematical Composition", the geocentric system of the universe had already been adopted by the neocheating authorities of Europe. Beginning around 200 B.C., the combined political and religious power structures of the Western world undertook a systematic oppression not only of the kind of knowledge which did not suit their purpose, such as the heliocentric theory, but also of the very source of knowledge itself, the conceptuality-centered consciousness and its reasoning faculty.
The heliocentric universe did not fit into their scheme of establishing a hierarchical social structure wherein the neocheaters were to stand at the center of the universe. The geocentric universe did. Thus, the heliocentric system was slowly eliminated from the face of the Earth and the geocentric theory gained prominence. Their success in oppressing the heliocentric system and other valid knowledge, and in establishing the geocentric hierarchy, gradually prepared Europe for the Dark Ages and drew the curtains on science for over 1700 years. It was not until the rise of business/commerce took place in Europe toward the end of the Middle Ages, which brought about the propagation of the zero along with the place-value number system, that the light of reason finally shone through the darkness of the human mind and raised the curtains of science at long last.
How could the political/religious master neocheaters be so successful in their scheme as to be able to suppress human knowledge and consciousness for over 1700 years? The answer lies, at least in part, in the very nature and propensity of human consciousness.
The process of life consists of awareness and self-creation. In contradistinction to nonliving systems such as the celestial system, all living systems from amoebae to human beings possess two distinguishing characteristics which constitute life. They are autopoiesis (self-creation, production, or generation) and awareness or cognition, which ranges from the most primitive form of awareness such as amoebae's stimulus-response to the highest form of cognition -- conscious human awareness. Autopoiesis and cognition are the two quintessences of life without which no life is possible. Moreover, autopoiesis and cognition are interdependent of, and integral to, one another. That is, neither can exist without the other.
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