Artículo
On the determination of planetary distances in the ptolemaic system
Fecha de publicación:
09/2010
Editorial:
Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd
Revista:
International Studies in the Philosophy of Science
ISSN:
0269-8595
e-ISSN:
1469-9281
Idioma:
Inglés
Tipo de recurso:
Artículo publicado
Clasificación temática:
Resumen
In 1975, Imre Lakatos and Elie Zahar claimed that the determination of planetary distances represents excess empirical content of Copernicuss theory over that of Ptolemy. This claim provoked an interesting discussion during the first half of the 1980s. The discussion started when Alan Chalmers affirmed that it is not correct to attribute this advantage to the Copernican system over the Ptolemaic. Other scholars criticized Chalmerss assertion, reaffirming the position of Lakatos and Zahar: one went even further, asserting that Copernicus has not one but two methods for calculating distances, even though this claim was subsequently also criticized. But all participants assumed that Ptolemy has no method for calculating planetary distances. In this article, I argue that this is not correct. I argue, in fact, that Ptolemy has two independent methods for calculating the distances of some of the planets and, therefore, as far as the calculation of planetary distances is concerned, Ptolemys system surpasses that of Copernicus.
Palabras clave:
PLANETARY DISTANCES
,
PTOLEMY
,
COPERNICUS
,
EMPIRICAL CONTENT
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Articulos(SEDE CENTRAL)
Articulos de SEDE CENTRAL
Articulos de SEDE CENTRAL
Citación
Carman, Christian Carlos; On the determination of planetary distances in the ptolemaic system; Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd; International Studies in the Philosophy of Science; 24; 3; 9-2010; 257-265
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