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To Save the Phenomena: An Essay on the Idea of Physical Theory from Plato to Galileo by Pierre Duhem
nealalex's review
4.0
“Epicycles”, as an epithet in science, means a theory which offers a minor increment in knowledge and minimal insight. In the vulgar history of science, epicycles are one of the undesirable properties of pre-Renaissance astronomy which gradually piled up until Galileo had the courage and intelligence to say that the emperor had no clothes.
“To save the phenomena” means to predict astronomical movements and events which, the author says, was the main concern of many astronomers. And the Ptolemaic framework met that need even though, as many astronomers were well aware, the lack of a supporting physical theory was a limitation. Citing Plato and Aristotle, Duhem calls the approach exemplified by Ptolemy the “method of the astronomer” and the method based on mechanistic theories “the method of the physicist”. The trouble was that, before Kepler, Galileo and Newton, the latter method wasn’t capable of making good predictions.
Overall, the book explains the development of astronomy as far as Galileo, giving credit to those who had different objectives and based their arguments on different premises.
“To save the phenomena” means to predict astronomical movements and events which, the author says, was the main concern of many astronomers. And the Ptolemaic framework met that need even though, as many astronomers were well aware, the lack of a supporting physical theory was a limitation. Citing Plato and Aristotle, Duhem calls the approach exemplified by Ptolemy the “method of the astronomer” and the method based on mechanistic theories “the method of the physicist”. The trouble was that, before Kepler, Galileo and Newton, the latter method wasn’t capable of making good predictions.
Overall, the book explains the development of astronomy as far as Galileo, giving credit to those who had different objectives and based their arguments on different premises.