History & Philosophy of Science

Read Chapters 13 and 14 of “Worldviews.”

1- Describe in precise detail how each of Ptolemy and Copernicus accounted for the motion of the planet Mars.

2- Explain the observational issues each of Ptolemy and Copernicus sought to account for.

3-Explain the fundamental issues that each of Ptolemy and Copernicus sought to rectify with observations, be these philosophical, religious or social. Did either Ptolemy or Copernicus arrive at a satisfactory resolution of observation, fundamental issues and description of the motion of Mars? Explain the nature of the resolution or remaining discrepancies and inherent contradictions in the final descriptions of Ptolemy and of Copernicus as you would judge them to have understood these matters.

4-Explain in detail how each of the following philosophical criteria and concepts terms that were discussed in Chapters 5 to 8 could be applied to describe the approach of Ptolemy and of Copernicus to the motion of Mars: confirmation reasoning, disconformation reasoning, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, Quine-Duhem thesis, falsifiability,  instrumentalism, realism.

5- Please search for at least three historical studies of each of Ptolemy and Copernicus on scholar.google.com, or elsewhere. Summarize the studies that you identify and describe in detail, as far as it can be determined, what were Ptolemy’s and Copernicus’ actual intellectual, philosophical, and religious beliefs, if any. Which of these, again, if any, were important to them in constructing their respective descriptions of the motion of Mars. Consider the possibility that mere, but necessary, lip-service could have been given to philosophy or religious dogma by investigators in order to reduce suspicions and the consequent dangers of accusations of religious heresy.

6-What do you conclude Ptolemy’s motives were and what reasoning influenced him most? Explain. Did he more likely regard his system as a true account of reality or as a convenient mathematical system for predictions not necessarily corresponding to an underlying physical reality?

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