UID:
edocfu_9959230572702883
Format:
1 online resource (702 p.)
Edition:
1st ed.
ISBN:
1-283-27745-X
,
9786613277459
,
0-520-94816-5
Series Statement:
The Fletcher Jones Foundation humanities imprint
Content:
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus publicly defended his hypothesis that the earth is a planet and the sun a body resting near the center of a finite universe. But why did Copernicus make this bold proposal? And why did it matter? The Copernican Question reframes this pivotal moment in the history of science, centering the story on a conflict over the credibility of astrology that erupted in Italy just as Copernicus arrived in 1496. Copernicus engendered enormous resistance when he sought to protect astrology by reconstituting its astronomical foundations. Robert S. Westman shows that efforts to answer the astrological skeptics became a crucial unifying theme of the early modern scientific movement. His interpretation of this "long sixteenth century," from the 1490's to the 1610's, offers a new framework for understanding the great transformations in natural philosophy in the century that followed.
Note:
Description based upon print version of record.
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Front matter --
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Contents --
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Illustrations --
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Preface and Acknowledgments --
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Introduction --
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1. The Literature of the Heavens and the Science of the Stars --
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2. Constructing the Future --
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3. Copernicus and the Crisis of the Bologna Prognosticators, 1496-1500 --
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4. Between Wittenberg and Rome: The New System, Astrology, and the End of the World --
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5. The Wittenberg Interpretation of Copernicus's Theory --
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6. Varieties of Astrological Credibility --
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7. Foreknowledge, Skepticism, and Celestial Order in Rome --
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8. Planetary Order, Astronomical Reform, and the Extraordinary Course of Nature --
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9. The Second-Generation Copernicans: Maestlin and Digges --
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10. A Proliferation of Readings --
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11. The Emergence of Kepler's Copernican Representation --
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12. Kepler's Early Audiences, 1596-1600 --
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13. The Third-Generation Copernicans: Galileo and Kepler --
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14. The Naturalist Turn and Celestial Order: Constructing the Nova of 1604 --
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15. How Kepler's New Star Traveled to England --
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16. The Struggle for Order --
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17. Modernizing Theoretical Knowledge: Patronage, Reputation, Learned Sociability, Gentlemanly Veracity --
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18. How Galileo's Recurrent Novelties Traveled --
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Conclusion. The Great Controversy --
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Notes --
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Bibliography --
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Index
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English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 0-520-25481-3
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780520254817
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780520355699
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1525/9780520948167
