Galileo Galilei's Astronomical Observations and New Cosmology

DOI HANDLE Web Site Open Access
  • ITO Kazuyuki
    Professor of Philosophy and History of Science, Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • ガリレオの天体観測と新しい宇宙論
  • ガリレオ ノ テンタイ カンソク ト アタラシイ ウチュウロン

Search this article

Abstract

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Galileo Galilei made certain astronomical discoveries with his telescopes. Hence, he is said to be the founder of modern observational astronomy and to have led the cosmological revolution. He supported the Copernican theory, denied the hierarchical structure of the traditional Aristotelian universe, and insisted on the new notion of a homogeneous universe. Some Renaissance philosophers had displayed the new cosmology speculatively, but Galileo demonstrated his concept of the universe experientially, based on his telescopic observations. The cosmological revolution of the early modern era occurred together with the astronomical revolution. Traditional cosmology positioned the earth centrally in the universe, dividing the universe into two different worlds - the celestial world that was perfect and eternal and the terrestrial world that was not. Since heliocentricism established the earth as a planet, the traditional division of the universe lost ground. In this paper, I will consider how Galileo denied the perfectness and eternity of the celestial world and developed his concept of a homogeneous universe along with heliocentricism by examining his astronomical works - Sidereus nuncius, Istoria e dimostrazioni intorno alle macchie solari, and Dialogo sopra i due massimi systemi del mondo. When Galileo considered the celestial phenomena obtained by telescopic observations, he employed the analogy between the terrestrial world and the celestial world. He attempted to extend the terrestrial world into the celestial world. In Sidereus nuncius, Galileo inferred the irregularity of the moon surface by utilizing the analogy between the earth and the moon. In Alle macchie solari, this analogy was applied to the sun and he indicated that sunspots were similar to clouds in the terrestrial world. In Dialogo, he applied his new laws of motion to planets although they had originally been developed for terrestrial bodies.

Journal

  • 哲學研究

    哲學研究 601 29-55, 2017-06-20

    THE KYOTO PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY (The Kyoto Tetsugaku-Kai)

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

Report a problem

Back to top