Ptolemy's universe : the natural philosophical and ethical foundations of Ptolemy's astronomy / Liba Chaia Taub.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Taub, Liba, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Astronomy, Ancient.

Cosmology.

Ptolemy, active 2nd century.

Ptolemy.

Physical Description:

xvi, 188 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago, Ill. : Open Court, 1993.

Summary:

Claudius Ptolemy, one of the greatest scientists of all time, probably lived in Alexandria in the second century A.D. His writings dominated astronomy and cosmology in medieval times. The replacement of his Earth-centered cosmology by the Sun-centered cosmology of Copemicus is the most celebrated event in the history of science.

Yet, although there has been much scholarly discussion of the mathematical aspects of Ptolemy's astronomy, little attention has been paid to the philosophical, and particularly the ethical, ideas which animate the astronomy. Ptolemy's Universe is the first modern examination of Ptolemy's thought as a whole, and its place in Greek intellectual culture.

Contents:

1 Ptolemy and the Historians 7

2 The Philosophical Preface to the Syntaxis 19

3 The Hypotheses Underlying the Syntaxis 39

I. That the heaven moves spherically 45

II. That the Earth, taken as a whole, is sensibly spherical 61

III. That the Earth is in the middle of the beavens, with regard to the senses 71

IV. That the Earth has the ratio of a point relative to the size of the heavens 79

V. That the Earth makes no motion involving change of place 84

VI. That there are two different primary motions in the heavens 100

4 Ptolemy's Cosmology 105

5 The Divinity of the Celestial Bodies and the Ethical Motivation for the Study of the Heavens 135

I. The Greek Cosmological Tradition and the Search for the Divine 138

II. The Ethical Motivation to Study Astronomy 146.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0812692284

0812692292

OCLC:

27012168