Scientific Inertia: A Study of Resistence to Theoretical Change in the History of Cosmology

科学惯性：宇宙学史上对理论变革的抵制研究

• 批准号: 9011540
• 负责人: Edward Grant
• 金额: $ 2万
• 依托单位: Indiana University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1990
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1990-07-15 至 1993-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9011540&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scientific; Inertia; Study; Resistence; Theoretical

From the very beginnings of medieval thought about the year 1200 until 1687, the year Isaac Newton published his monumental Principia, the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic geocentric cosmology dominated intellectual debate about the nature of our universe. Professor Grant is examining how the Aristotelian system managed to persist for nearly half a millennium. To understand this phenomenon is to understand the ability of received views to persist, even in the light of contradictory evidence. Or, better, to understand the persistence of the Aristotelian system is to understand how a scientific theory can adapt to accommodate new views and to understand how extraordinarily difficult it is to overthrow entrenched views. By undertaking this study, Professor Grant is thus shedding light on one of the most important issues in science studies: how science changes--and why it does not change. Professor Grant has found that the nearly 500 year period can be divided into two parts: 1200-1500 when the Aristotelian view was overwhelmingly dominant and had no viable rivals. The second phase from 1500-1687 was one in which a number of rival cosmologies appeared ranging from the Platonic views to those of the hermetic tradition of Hermes Trismagistus. He has found that, even if Copernicus had never written De revolutionibus, a significant debate about the earth's possible axial rotation and orbital motion would have occurred. Yet in 1543, Copernicus did publish his revolutionary views and the remaining century and a half of Aristotelian cosmology was one of trying to accommodate the Aristotelian system to the discoveries which emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries--from Brahe's new observations of the planets and stars to Galileo's telescopic discoveries. The results of Professor Grant's study will be a massive history of Aristotelian cosmology. This study will have major importance for studies in the history and the philosophy of science which are concerned with the central issues of scientific change.

从 1200 年中世纪思想的萌芽到 1687 年，也就是艾萨克·牛顿发表其不朽的《原理》的那一年，亚里士多德-托勒密的地心宇宙论主导了关于宇宙本质的学术争论。 格兰特教授正在研究亚里士多德体系如何能够持续近半个千年。 要理解这种现象，就要理解即使在证据相互矛盾的情况下，所接受的观点也能持续存在。 或者，更好的是，理解亚里士多德体系的持久性就是理解科学理论如何适应新的观点，并理解推翻根深蒂固的观点是多么困难。 通过进行这项研究，格兰特教授揭示了科学研究中最重要的问题之一：科学如何变化以及为什么它不变化。 格兰特教授发现，近500年的时期可以分为两个部分：1200年至1500年，当时亚里士多德的观点占据压倒性优势，没有可行的竞争对手。 第二阶段是从 1500 年到 1687 年，出现了许多相互竞争的宇宙观，从柏拉图的观点到赫耳墨斯·特里斯玛格斯图斯 (Hermes Trismagistus) 的封闭传统观点。 他发现，即使哥白尼从未写过《论旋转》，关于地球可能的轴自转和轨道运动的重大争论也会发生。 然而，在 1543 年，哥白尼确实发表了他的革命性观点，而亚里士多德宇宙学的剩余一个半世纪就是试图使亚里士多德体系适应 16 世纪和 17 世纪出现的发现——从布拉赫对行星和恒星的新观察到伽利略的望远镜发现。 格兰特教授的研究成果将成为亚里士多德宇宙学的一部宏大的历史。 这项研究对于关注科学变革核心问题的科学史和科学哲学研究具有重大意义。