Why Did Copernicus Dedicate His Great Work To Pope Paul III
Copernicus
Q1 Response: Why did Copernicus dedicate his great work to Pope Paul III?
The Pope was God’s highest representative on Earth and held great moral authority. Early intellectuals were very religious and believed that God made possible the discoveries that were being made about the Earth.
Copernicus knew what he was proposing would be controversial in the intellectual community. By seeking the Pope’s approval for his work, he recognized that, even if the community disagreed or even found his work laughable, they would not publicly say so once it was embraced by the Pope. To criticize Copernicus’ work would have meant criticizing the Pope’s judgement.
Q2 Response: What assumptions about the nature of scientific knowledge caused Copernicus to revisit and revise the received natural philosophy?
The enlightenment populace held a great reverence for the authority and writings of the ancients. Ptolemy, an ancient astronomer, had proposed the widely-believed idea of an earth-centered or geocentric universe. Q3 Response: How does Copernicus refute in this work the notion that the Earth is at rest in the universe? …show more content…
Using math, he proposed that the Earth, far from standing still, was rotating on an axis and moved around the sun with the other planets. He observed that the stars are sometimes nearer and sometimes farther from the earth, therefore it stood to reason that the earth must be moving as well both toward and away from the stars. He answered critics who said that on a rotating Earth any object thrown upward would be left behind. Copernicus pointed out that all objects were moving together and, therefore, the object thrown into the air would fall in the same spot as it descended
Q1 Response: Why did Copernicus dedicate his great work to Pope Paul III?
The Pope was God’s highest representative on Earth and held great moral authority. Early intellectuals were very religious and believed that God made possible the discoveries that were being made about the Earth.
Copernicus knew what he was proposing would be controversial in the intellectual community. By seeking the Pope’s approval for his work, he recognized that, even if the community disagreed or even found his work laughable, they would not publicly say so once it was embraced by the Pope. To criticize Copernicus’ work would have meant criticizing the Pope’s judgement.
Q2 Response: What assumptions about the nature of scientific knowledge caused Copernicus to revisit and revise the received natural philosophy?
The enlightenment populace held a great reverence for the authority and writings of the ancients. Ptolemy, an ancient astronomer, had proposed the widely-believed idea of an earth-centered or geocentric universe. Q3 Response: How does Copernicus refute in this work the notion that the Earth is at rest in the universe? …show more content…
Using math, he proposed that the Earth, far from standing still, was rotating on an axis and moved around the sun with the other planets. He observed that the stars are sometimes nearer and sometimes farther from the earth, therefore it stood to reason that the earth must be moving as well both toward and away from the stars. He answered critics who said that on a rotating Earth any object thrown upward would be left behind. Copernicus pointed out that all objects were moving together and, therefore, the object thrown into the air would fall in the same spot as it descended