Cosmos [03] geocentre

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GEOCENTRE OF THE UNIVERSEGreek philosophy


Greek Rationalism

The Greeks were people extremely versed in abstraction. They developed philosophy and speculated on the nature of the universe. The earliest speculations were still consistent with the mythical world structure. But later on, abstractionism and rationalism dominated, and the trend of thinking headed towards geometry, mathematics and some extent of practicality.


Geocentric Universe

The sphericity of the Earth, and of the description of the heavens as spherical, captured the imagination of philosophers in the 4th century. It was supposed to be Plato who first proposed that the planets followed perfect circular orbits around the Earth. It is presumed, though not explicitly stated by Plato, that the Earth is the centre of the cosmos, with the other heavenly bodies rotating about it.


Geocentric Universe

After Plato, later thinkers proposed new schemes involving heavenly spheres and spherical motions. Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 400 -c.355 B.C.), for example, was able to produce a very remarkable theory of planetary system. He believed that there were many spheres for each heavenly body, and that the motions of the planets, the sun, or the moon were the result of the combined motion of several spheres.


Circle to Sphere

It was Aristotle (384-322 BC) who made explicit the proposition that the earth is the centre and does not move, with the sun, the moon, planets and stars circling it.


Aristotle's Views on the Cosmos

Aristotle based himself on various observations evident to the unaided eye:

(i) The sun "rises" and "sets" each day;

(ii) He did not feel that the earth is moving under his feet;

(iii) The stars moved in a semi-circle about the horizon each night.

All of these seem to imply that the earth is fixed at the centre and the sun moves around it.

Moreover, after all, humans and for Aristotle, the Greeks, are the most important part of the cosmos. It seemed appropriate that the earth - the planet we inhabit – deserve to be at its centre.


NON-MOVING BIBLICAL EARTH


Earth not moving

The Israelites believed that the earth is the largest and therefore the heaviest body under the heavens. So much so that it is hard to move and all the other heavenly bodies has to revolve around it.

In Psalm 96:9-11 it says:

“O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved.”


Earth Established & Firm

Also in Zechariah 1:11: “And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”

The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Psalm 93:1


If the earth is not moving, then the rising and setting of the sun, moon, planets and stars are moving by their own cause. They could also be stopped any time by the order of God. In the day when the sons of Israel were battling with the Amorites, Joshua spoke to the Lord: “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down of about a whole day.Joshua 10:13.


With the revival of Greek learnings in the Medieval ages, the concepts and literature of Aristotle reigned supreme. The geocentric universe naturally become the central doctrine of the church with authority next to that of the Bible.

Church geocentre


Ptolemy’s universe

The Egyptian-Greek astronomer Ptolemy (c.100-170 A.D) observed that all bodies fall to the centre of the earth. So the Earth must be fixed there at the centre of the universe.

Again, if the Earth rotated all the time, a body thrown vertically upward should not fall back to the same place, as it was seen to do. However, there was no such contrary event that had ever been observed.


Ptolemy’s Almagest

Basically, Ptolemy’s ideas were to accommodate astronomical observations of planetary motions. His book “Almagest” described the motions of the heavens on this geocentric basis, employing circles within circles (epicycles) to obtain a plausible match with observations.Ptolemy's geocentric system dominated western thought on astronomy and cosmology until the time of Copernicus, fourteen centuries later.


HELIOCENTRETo be continued in Part 4

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