What finally ended Aristotles domination of the natural sciences?
Be specific as to what aspects of Aristotle’s views were rejected and why. • The views in the previous question were rejected due to success in applying mathematics in astronomy and mechanics. • Explain Kepler’s view of the relationship between God, mathematics, and the physical universe. • God is the “Supreme Architect”. • Mathematics (geometry) is part of God’s mind. • What was the role of empirical knowledge in Kepler’s understanding of mathematics? • Many of Kepler’s discoveries came from extensive empirical research. Mathematics must be tied to the real world (my term). We are not free to create our own world. (Remember this when we deal with Georg Cantor’s ideas.) How did this differ from Plato and Aristotle? We don’t have the time right now to deal with this one. • What was the Catholic church’s objection to Galileo’s work? • On anything to do with Galileo, see the book Galileo’s Mistake. • Galileo had permission to present his ideas as a hypothetical theory, a “useful fiction”,
