Term Paper on "Aristotle's Astronomy Besides Giving"

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[EXCERPT] . . . .

Aristotle's Astronomy besides giving a brief overview of Aristotle's life and accomplishments.

Life and Accomplishments

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) is one of the three most famous ancient philosophers whose work have left an indelible mark on the Western Civilization. Aristotle was born in Macedonia where his father was a physician in the royal court. He went to study in Plato's Academy at the age of 17 where he stayed for 20 years and was Plato's most distinguished pupil. After Plato died in 347 BC, he moved to Assos, a city in Asia Minor, and married the ruler (Hermias)'s adopted daughter. After Hermias' was captured and killed by the Persians a few years later, Aristotle was invited by the King of Macedonia to his court. There, he became a tutor to the King's son Alexander -- who was later to earn fame in history as Alexander the Great. In 335 BC, when Alexander became king, Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum. It was during the 13 years at Lyceum that most of Aristotle's works were written. When Alexander the Great died in 325 BC, anti-Macedonian feelings in Athens forced Aristotle to retreat to a family estate in Euboea, where he died the following year.

The majority of Aristotle's works have been lost. The one's that have survived, consisting mainly of his lecture notes, reveal that Aristotle had studied in depth and written about almost every subject that was in existence at the time including anatomy, astronomy, physics, geology, zoology, aesthetics, rhetoric, logic, ethics, metaphysics, psychology and literature. His accomplishments in such a wide range of subjects are astonishing. After the fall of Rome, his works were almost lost to the Western world. He was studied by the Islamic scholars in the 9th to 12th centuries when Aristotelian works were translated into Arabic. Aristotle was rediscovered by the Western world in the 13th century and his thoughts were held in such high esteem during the Middle Ages that his philosophy attained the status of dogma. His work is relevant to theology, education, literary criticism, the analysis of human action, and political analysis and has helped to shape modern language and common sense. (Aristotle, "Wickipedia" para on Biography; "Aristotle," Encarta Article)

Aristotle's Astronomy

Although Aristotle was the first person to introduce elements of empiricism in his philosophical works, he did not always follow the scientific principle of observation and experiment in all of his works. For example, some of his theories on astronomy in his works such as "Metaphysics," "Physics," and "On the Heavens," are based on philosophical speculation rather than on empirical observations. It is due to this reason perhaps that his basic theories on astronomy were later proved wrong by more "scientific" observations by Galileo and Isaac Newton. In fact, some writers have harshly criticized Aristotle's theories on astronomy, holding them responsible for retarding progress in the field since Aristotle's writings were considered as authority for many centuries. a. Berry in his book "A Short History of Astronomy" (1961) writes:

There are also in Aristotle's writings a number of astronomical speculations, founded on no solid evidence and of little value... his original contributions are not comparable with his contributions to the mental and moral sciences, but are inferior in value to his work in other natural sciences... (Quoted by O'Connor and Robertson)

We must, however, remember that Aristotle did not have the benefit of modern tools such as powerful telescopes that became available later for making accurate observation of the heavenly bodies. As a result, his reliance on "philosophical speculation" while theorizing about the universe, was only natural and his contribution to astronomy should be looked at in the context of the existing scientific knowledge at the time.

Aristotle proposed that the universe was spherical and finite and that the earth was at the center of the earth. The spherical shape of the universe was proposed by Aristotle since the sphere is the most "perfect" shape and he believed that the universe had to be finite because anything with a center could not be infinite. Aristotle also argued that the Earth was spherical because all earthly substances tend to move towards the center and as one… READ MORE

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