Kepler's Philosophy and the New Astronomy
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A01=Rhonda Martens
Aristotelian physics
Astrology
Astronomer
Astronomia
Astronomia nova
Astronomical instrument
Astronomical object
Astronomy
Author_Rhonda Martens
Calculation
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Celestial mechanics
Chronology of the universe
Classical mechanics
Conjunction (astronomy)
Copernican heliocentrism
Copernican system
Cosmogony
Cosmography
Discovery of Neptune
Earth's orbit
Earth's rotation
Eccentric anomaly
Elliptic orbit
Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae
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Galileo Galilei
Geocentric model
Harmonices Mundi
Heliocentrism
Huygens (spacecraft)
Hypothesis
Jeremiah Horrocks
Johannes Kepler
Johannes Praetorius
Jupiter
Kepler's laws of planetary motion
Libration
Lunar distance (astronomy)
Lunar theory
Mathematics
Mysterium Cosmographicum
Natural philosophy
Neoplatonism
Nicolaus Copernicus
Numerology
Observational astronomy
Omnipotence
Orbit
Orbit of Mars
Orbital plane (astronomy)
Perihelion and aphelion
Philosophy of science
Physics (Aristotle)
Planet
Planetary body
Planetary system
Ptolemy
Pythagoreanism
Regiomontanus
Retrograde and prograde motion
Schiaparelli (Martian crater)
Science
Solar time
Spherical astronomy
Spin (physics)
Stellar parallax
The Mind of God
Theoretical physics
Theory
Tychonic system
Universe
Variable star
Product details
- ISBN 9780691050690
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 29 Oct 2000
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Johannes Kepler contributed importantly to every field he addressed. He changed the face of astronomy by abandoning principles that had been in place for two millennia, made important discoveries in optics and mathematics, and was an uncommonly good philosopher. Generally, however, Kepler's philosophical ideas have been dismissed as irrelevant and even detrimental to his legacy of scientific accomplishment. Here, Rhonda Martens offers the first extended study of Kepler's philosophical views and shows how those views helped him construct and justify the new astronomy. Martens notes that since Kepler became a Copernican before any empirical evidence supported Copernicus over the entrenched Ptolemaic system, his initial reasons for preferring Copernicanism were not telescope observations but rather methodological and metaphysical commitments. Further, she shows that Kepler's metaphysics supported the strikingly modern view of astronomical method that led him to discover the three laws of planetary motion and to wed physics and astronomy--a key development in the scientific revolution.
By tracing the evolution of Kepler's thought in his astronomical, metaphysical, and epistemological works, Martens explores the complex interplay between changes in his philosophical views and the status of his astronomical discoveries. She shows how Kepler's philosophy paved the way for the discovery of elliptical orbits and provided a defense of physical astronomy's methodological soundness. In doing so, Martens demonstrates how an empirical discipline was inspired and profoundly shaped by philosophical assumptions.
Rhonda Martens is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Manitoba.
