From the History of Science
From debates about astrology to the new astronomy? A historiographic problem
Akopyan O. L.The degree to which debates about astrology might have influenced the astronomical revolution of the early modern era remains a subject of prolonged historiographical controversy. This article investigates the possible connection between the works by Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei and the Neoplatonic philosophy of Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, in particular the polemics against astrology initiated by Mirandola’s treatise, Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem.
Copernicus and Galilei, unlike many other astronomers of the time, never showed any explicit interest in the theories of Ficino and Mirandola. A closer textual analysis, however, reveals at least four episodes that can demonstrate their familiarity with and possible reliance on the latter’s works.
Key words: astrology, astronomy, Galileo Galilei, history of philosophy, neoplatonism, Nicolaus Copernicus
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Recommended bibliographic description
Akopyan O. L., From debates about astrology to the new astronomy? A historiographic problem, Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniia i Tekhniki [Studies in History of Science and Technology], 2015, vol. 36, no. 4, p. 625-641
© Studies in the History of Science and Technology: Quarterly scientific journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2015)
ISSN 0205-9606. Индекс 70143
ISSN 0205-9606. Индекс 70143