The Copernican revolution is a paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the universe that has postulated that the Earth is the center of the universe, a heliocentric model with the Sun at the center of our solar system. This event was one of the starting points of the beginning of the scientific revolution of the XVI century. Copernican theory was tantamount to a revolutionary restructuring not only in astronomy and science, but also in the methods of scientific research and knowledge. It has led to radical changes in the way of thinking of scientists, turning it from conventional and rigid dogma to the direct study of the real world.
Since the XV century in Europe begins a series of changes in the socio - economic and spiritual life of Western Europe, which marks the beginning of a new era that went down in history as the Renaissance. Socio-economic changes were accompanied by significant changes in the mindset. These changes were associated primarily with the process of secularization (liberation of religion and religious institutions) that occurred in all areas of cultural and social life. Independence in relation to the church has acquired not only economic and political life, but also the science, art and philosophy. However, at first this process takes place very slowly in different European countries.
This new era has aware of itself as a revival of ancient culture, ancient way of life, a way of thinking and feeling. In reality, however, a Renaissance man and Renaissance culture and philosophy has differed significantly from the ancient. Although, the Renaissance and medieval Christianity opposes itself, but it emerged as a result of the development of medieval culture, and therefore bears the features which are not peculiar to antiquity.
In the Middle Ages in Western Europe people have read Virgil, quoted Cicero, Pliny, Seneca, etc. However, at the same time there was a strong difference in attitude to antiquity in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Middle Ages people have treated to antiquity as to the authority of, the people of Renaissance - as to the ideal.
An important feature of the Renaissance worldview was its focus on art. If the medieval era can be called religious then the Renaissance era was artistic and aesthetic par excellence. The focus of antiquity was natural and cosmic life, in the Middle Ages the focus was on the god and the related idea of salvation, in the Renaissance the focus was on people. Therefore, the philosophical thinking of this period can be described as anthropocentric.
In the Middle Ages, religious dogma has taken a leading role in the human world. The basic idea, which has relied on religion, was the geocentric model of the world. The Earth and people on it were considered the center of the universe, while the stars and other planets revolving around Earth. In the 16th century Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus came to the conclusion of the insolvency of such a model of the universe. He has proved that the Earth is not static, but moves around the Sun, as well as the other planets of the solar system. This discovery is still relevant to many scientists, so the purpose of this study to understand how the heliocentric doctrine influenced the ideological views and the development of science.
In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus published his treatise “De Revolutionibus coelestium orbium” (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in which he outlined the heliocentric model of the representation of the universe. It took about 200 years before this model has replaced the model of Ptolemy. It is difficult to overestimate the influence of the discoveries of Copernicus. If the proposal Copernicus had no effect outside of astronomy, it would not have delayed so long in recognizing, and it would not face so fierce resistance.
In his work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres Nicolaus Copernicus has shown that the motion of the heavens can be explained without the approval that the Earth is at the geometric center of the system. This has led to the conclusion that we can reject the assumption that we observe the universe from the special position. Although, Copernicus initiated the scientific revolution, of course he did not complete it. He has continued to believe in the heavenly spheres, and helped quite a bit to direct observations and evidence that his theory is closer to the truth than the Ptolemaic system.
Since its first use of the telescope for astronomical observations in 1610, Galileo had strong support for the Copernican system, observing the phases of Venus (predicted by Copernicus, not Ptolemy) and the moons of Jupiter (which has shown that the visible anomaly of the lunar orbit according to the Copernican theory are not unique). In 1632, Galileo wrote a classic work in defense of the heliocentric system: “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” (which led to his trial and his house arrest by the Inquisition).
At the same time, many scientists, such as Thomas Digges and Giordano Bruno were inspired by Copernicus, and have defended the existence of an infinite number, or at least sufficiently large number of universes around other stars, which are far from our solar system.
Copernican revolution was probably completed by Isaac Newton whose Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy has given a consistent physical explanation, and showed that the planets are in their orbits because of the familiar to us gravity. Newton was able to deduce Kepler's laws as a good approximation of the theory and get even more accurate movement projections, taking into account the gravitational interaction between the planets
For more than a millennium the Catholic Church has predominated not only in religion but also in politics and science. The Church has supported the popular theory of geocentrism, although prominent theologians were aware of the heliocentric theory. Ideas of Copernicus, constituting the foundation of the heliocentric doctrine, has razed the principles of church-theological outlook and denied church picture of the universe based on the geocentric Ptolemaic doctrine. Copernicus creativity had an enormous influence on all subsequent development of the natural sciences.
Opening of Copernicus has also influenced the philosophy of Kant's transcendental idealism. Transcendental idealism has made the revolution in philosophy and the scientific world, and has proved that the experience is credible scientific evidence for assumptions or theories.
Here it is necessary to understand that from antiquity mankind in particular scientists and philosophers have sought explanations of the various processes taking place around them, or processes that occur beyond the field of view. In this case, human senses were considered as unreliable methods of explanation. In this situation of things, the result of scientific experience just did not have the right to be true, because the experience is not conducted by scientists from the strict logical "foundation" or dogma, but from the simple assumption, based sometimes on pure fantasy. The transcendental idealism has proved that the result is confirmed by the experience has every right to be true. After this revolution in the scientific world has changed radically research of the world, revealing completely new horizons that were previously impossible.
The impact of the teachings of Copernicus to the development of science immensely large: it has revolutionized not only in astronomy, but in the whole human world. Indeed, with a look at the structure of the solar system is inextricably linked to the question of the position of the Earth, and with it the man in the universe. Therefore, astronomy included as an essential element in the understanding of the world, embracing both philosophical and religious questions.
Before Copernicus, for almost fifteen centuries, the Earth was considered the only fixed the body of the universe, the central and most important part of the universe; all religions believed that the celestial bodies are created for the Earth and humanity. As the Earth has lost its central position and become the same as all the others observed in the sky planets, the approval of the opposition of the clergy "earth" and "heaven" has lost all meaning. A new idea - for the unity of the world that "heaven" and "earth" are subject to the same laws.
Works Cited
Dreyer, J. L. E. A History of Astronomy from Thales to Kepler. Mineola: Dover Publications, 2011.
Kuhn, Thomas S. The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Lawson, Russell M. Science in the Ancient World: An Encyclopedia. Santa-Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
Newton, Isaac. The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. New York: Snowball Publishing, 2010.
R. Taton, C. Wilson. Planetary Astronomy from the Renaissance to the Rise of Astrophysics, Part A, Tycho Brahe to Newton (General History of Astronomy). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
