Second, and perhaps of even more importance, medieval man could not understand that the planets or the stars or comets were made of the same stuff as an apple matter. [ aine ] So monumental were his achievements in cosmology, the Scientific Revolution could almost have been called the Copernican Revolution. Born in Poland in 1473, it was the humble astronomer Nicholas Copernicus (14731543) who challenged the geocentrism of Ptolemy with his own heliocentric universe. Ptolemy would never recover neither would the Christian matrix. Copernicus studied mathematics at Cracow and managed to obtain a law degree from Bologna as well. In 1500 he was in Rome where he witnessed a lunar eclipse. The following year he studied medicine at Padua and in 1505 he left Italy for Prussia. By 1512 he was settled in Prussia where he not only observed the movement of the heavenly bodies
Coherence theories of truth seem to lead to a relativism that might be unacceptable, although not necessarily incorrect. Important: The relative truth of scientific theories in coherence theories does not mean they are arbitrary. Scientific theories should still fit within the set of beliefs that scientists share. Who knows? Did geocentric scientists know that the Earth was the centre of the Universe? No. They believed they knew, but they were wrong. They did not know. Do heliocentric scientists know that the Earth orbits the Sun? We believe we do. Everything we take to know should be viewed as probably true but that it might be false. Knowledge is provisional. Hence, in a scientific attitude, we should be prepared to revise our belief if evidence against it occurs. Science as a Puzzle Solving Correspondence theories: The assemblage corresponds to the big picture. Coherence theories: The pieces cohere. Difficulties:
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