The discovery of Copernicus was a scientific discovery about the solar
system and has nothing to do with humans. He may have displaced the earth,
but we know nothing about displacing humans. Moorad
-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Davis <tdavis@messiah.edu>
To: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>
Date: Sunday, August 05, 2001 10:39 PM
Subject: Copernicus was wrong?
>Glenn Morton writes (correctly) that Copernicus is usually credited with
>moving humans out of the center. However, as I have noted in other forums
>several times, this very common notion is very wrong. In short, Copernicus
>did not move humanity from the center--because we were never there!
Ptolemy
>and others since antiquity were well aware of the earth's approximate size
>and shape, and medieval intellectuals were fully aware that we are a very
>significant 4000 miles from the "center" of the universe. Furthermore, it
>was not desireable to be in the center at all, for that's where hell was
>thought to be. This feature of Copernicanism--moving humanity away from
the
>center--did not bother people at the time; what bothered them was the
>ridiculous claim that the earth is moving.
>
>The myth that Copernicus assaulted human dignity may have been invented by
>Freud, as part of a selve-serving idea that Copernicus moved us out of the
>center, Darwin reduced our uniqueness, and he (Freud) had assaulted our
>rationality. I say "may have been," b/c I am not confident this part of
>the story is right. But I'm confident the first paragraph is right.
>
>Ted Davis
>
>
>Edward B. Davis
>Professor of the History of Science
>Messiah College
>Grantham, PA 17027
>717-766-2511 (voice)
>717-691-6002 (fax)
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Aug 06 2001 - 09:49:24 EDT