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Aristotle’s view of the universe
by ranfuchs @ 2008-01-27 - 11:42:03

aristotleUniverse

So let's continue with Church’s favourite philosopher, Aristotle :

Aristotle supported the geocentric model in which the earth was the center of a finite spherical universe, and all celestial bodies: the sun, moon, planets and stars circled around it in an eternal, perfectly circular motion, driven by the force of a Prime Mover. According to Aristotle, there were two distinct sets of laws, one for the earth, and the other for heaven. He dismissed Democritus idea of the atom as worthless, and instead believed that everything was made of a combination of four elements: earth, water, air and fire. The combination of these elements in each object determined how fast it would strive to reach the center of the earth – the heavier an object was, the faster it would fall. Aristotle also postulated a fifth element, ether, which he believed to be the main constituent of all heavenly bodies.

4 elements

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UsksiderUsksider pro
http://www.usksider.co.uk
2008-01-27 @ 12:38

Aristotle, apparently, was a bugger for the bottle... (Monty Python)

Did you by any chance ever see Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man? If you didn't, I think you'd find his Music of the Spheres episode interesting.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-27 @ 12:45

haven't seen it, so I will look for it. Thanks

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UsksiderUsksider pro
http://www.usksider.co.uk
2008-01-27 @ 12:51

The whole series is worth a watch... a little dated now perhaps since it must be 20/25 years old, but wonderfully put together.

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deleted user [Visitor]

2008-01-27 @ 14:14

http://mermaidsdeep.blog.co.uk/2008/01/25/it_s_time_to_get_wise~3630938
My past post you need to have a look at the clip and then maybe get inspired to watch the whole thing on DVD ( if you havent already) Having tried to get to grips with various therios over the years this is one of the best intros to what is being explored about reality..now.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-27 @ 14:28

I did see this video some time back. I didn't really like it. Although it aggregated many questions from different fields (nothing new, of course, as many of the questions are thousands of years old) it failed to distinguish between facts, theories, speculations and imaginations. I think that if we are to discuss such things seriously, and not just to get the wow factor, we must not be mentally lazy, must explore all possibilities, but also must be serious about how we explore

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deleted user [Visitor]

2008-01-27 @ 14:41

I disagree with you..totally. Cant be bothered going into why as I dont know you or who you are. I an a free thinker and in my world I embrace openly the speculative and the theoritical oh and the imaginative and the vast amounts of probabilities, as oppossed to rigid expectations and zero tolerance etc etc. I think the scientists involved would be somewhat insulted to think they had taken part in something that was supposedly aiming for the *wow* factor but whatever. enough..pointless to comment.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-27 @ 14:51

Of course you should embrace them all. Theories are just as important as facts, otherwise how will we know what to search? Speculation and imaginations are just as important, and if you see the most important discoveries, they all started with speculation. We must keep open mind. Yet, when we keep open mind we still need to know the facts from the theories from the speculations, don't we?

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deleted user [Visitor]

2008-01-27 @ 15:10

There are facts as well in the film ( one test in mentioned) but in the extended version a great deal more is explored to prove theory as well as in the books of the scientists/physicists involved there are proven tests as in other books by other physics writers..It is meant as a trigger for people to explore further, it is a matter of context in some things yes facts are important but if we were only to have that as the goal, nothing would be done in eth way of exploration sometimes the process of that provides us with the facts we need. However it is a vast topic and I belive it should not be dissmissed, we do that too readily in the current atmosphere of cynicism..
Anyway-Who is to say we the people/prols actually get told all the facts?
Not too mention the knowledge of the indigenious races on this planet slowly being detsroyed and or stolen.. why for eg are they pulling massive amounts of funding away from astronomy right now and shutting off access to several of the worlds largest telescopes..which we/the people dont get near anyway..when China is on its way to the moon and other countries are desperate to get into the space race....Why does Britain's military and the USA's still cover up the massive amounts of data about UFO's ? most of which is varifiable... and so on and on and on....what is reality to me right now? I need a coffee.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-27 @ 15:18

Sure you can. This is the reason God invented restaurants

When the western world was at its glory it explored and sought knowledge. When decline starts the focus changes to naval gazing and money making. Astronomy does not bring money in the short term. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is disregarded, and funding is cut.

On the other hand, China is growing, not only economically, but also in its pursuit of new goals. They want to get to the moon; they are looking for new challenges.

They are pioneers, while we have started our decay. We all get old, also culture, and new vibrant take over. We should not feel bad about it

Enjoy your coffee

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unclefrankunclefrank [Member]
2008-01-27 @ 14:41

Good old Aristotle,
It is a good thing that Galileo came along and set things right for all of us.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-27 @ 15:10

Aristotle was a great thinker,and a true scientist. It was the way the Church abused his work that was at falut, not his doing. He would never have agreed to the way the church used his teachings

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unclefrankunclefrank [Member]
2008-01-27 @ 15:37

Your point of view is well taken.

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tylluanpenrytylluanpenry pro
2008-01-28 @ 18:44

I think Aristotle would have been one of the first to want to progress forwards and would have been horrified that his work was used to stifle progress.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-28 @ 23:42

you are absolutly right. He did the best he could with what he had. But he was for open mind and questioning.

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rubychoorubychoo [Member]
2008-01-29 @ 02:40

Yes.
Science is two-steps-forward-and-one-step-back.
Always will be....
Church or not.

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ranfuchsranfuchs pro
2008-01-29 @ 09:08

On the other hand, Church is one step in place another step in place, science or not

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PrettyintelligentprincessPrettyintelligentprincess [Member]
2008-01-30 @ 01:35

Nope..not getting into this one either...x

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