Linguistique de l’écrit

Revue internationale en libre accès

Livre | Chapitre

184496

Paradise not surrendered

Jewish reactions to Copernicus and the growth of modern science

Hillel Levine

pp. 203-225

Résumé

Copernicus's sixteenth century formulation of a heliocentric cosmos, elaborated during the next one hundred and fifty years through the work of Bruno, Kepler, Galileo and Newton, has been considered a turning point not only in astronomy but in the growth of scientific knowledge and in the history of ideas. The shift from belief in the well-ordered cosmos in which the earth occupies the central position to notions of an expanded universe in which man and his familiar world are relegated to an insignificant corner played a paramount role in the process whereby, as Alexandre Koyré put it, "human or at least European minds underwent a deep revolution which changed the very framework and patterns of our thinking."1 Even while it was still a subject of debate within astronomic coteries, poets such as Donne and Milton intuited the broader social and religious implications of the altered conceptions of the planetary arrangements.

Détails de la publication

Publié dans:

Cohen Robert S, Wartofsky Mark W (1983) Epistemology, methodology, and the social sciences. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 203-225

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-1458-7_8

Citation complète:

Levine Hillel, 1983, Paradise not surrendered: Jewish reactions to Copernicus and the growth of modern science. In R.S. Cohen & M.W. Wartofsky (eds.) Epistemology, methodology, and the social sciences (203-225). Dordrecht, Springer.