The essays in Copernirus and his Successors deal both with the influences on Copernicus, including that of Greek and Arabic thinkers, and with his own life and attitudes. They also examine how he was seen by contemporaries and finally describe his relationship to other scientists, including Galileo, Brahe and Kepler.

Taking into account the most important results of the scholarly literature since 1973 and the best Polish scholarship of the past century, this is the first comprehensive study of Copernicus's achievement in English that examines Copernicus's path to heliocentrism from the perspective of late medieval philosophy, the Renaissance recovery of ancient literature and science, and early-modern editions of books that Copernicus used. The principal goals are to explain his commitment to the existence of celestial spheres, and the logical foundations for his views about hypotheses. In doing so, the work elucidates the logical and philosophical background that contributed to his accomplishments, and explains the limitations of his achievement. Medieval and Early Modern Science, 12

In Copernicus in the Cultural Debates of the Renaissance, Pietro Daniel Omodeo presents a general overview of the reception of Copernicus’s astronomical proposal from the years immediately preceding the publication of De revolutionibus (1543) to the Roman prohibition of heliocentric hypotheses in 1616. Relying on a detailed investigation of early modern sources, the author systematically examines a series of issues ranging from computation to epistemology, natural philosophy, theology and ethics. In addition to offering a pluralistic and interdisciplinary perspective on post-Copernican astronomy, the study goes beyond purely cosmological and geometrical issues and engages in a wide-ranging discussion of how Copernicus’s legacy interacted with European culture and how his image and theories evolved as a result.

"One might wonder if there is anything new to say about Thomas Kuhn and his views on science. Scholarship on Kuhn, though, has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. This is so for a number reasons"--

An account of the Copernican Revolution, focusing on the significance of the plurality of the revolution which encompassed not only mathematical astronomy, but also conceptual changes in cosmology, physics, philosophy, and religion.

For scientist and layman alike this book provides vivid evidence that the Copernican Revolution has by no means lost its significance today. Few episodes in the development of scientific theory show so clearly how the solution to a highly technical problem can alter our basic thought processes and attitudes. Understanding the processes which underlay the Revolution gives us a perspective, in this scientific age, from which to evaluate our own beliefs more intelligently. With a constant keen awareness of the inseparable mixture of its technical, philosophical, and humanistic elements, Thomas S. Kuhn displays the full scope of the Copernican Revolution as simultaneously an episode in the internal development of astronomy, a critical turning point in the evolution of scientific thought, and a crisis in Western man’s concept of his relation to the universe and to God. The book begins with a description of the first scientific cosmology developed by the Greeks. Mr. Kuhn thus prepares the way for a continuing analysis of the relation between theory and observation and belief. He describes the many functions—astronomical, scientific, and nonscientific—of the Greek concept of the universe, concentrating especially on the religious implications. He then treats the intellectual, social, and economic developments which nurtured Copernicus’ break with traditional astronomy. Although many of these developments, including scholastic criticism of Aristotle’s theory of motion and the Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism, lie entirely outside of astronomy, they increased the flexibility of the astronomer’s imagination. That new flexibility is apparent in the work of Copernicus, whose De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is discussed in detail both for its own significance and as a representative scientific innovation. With a final analysis of Copernicus’ life work—its reception and its contribution to a new scientific concept of the universe—Mr. Kuhn illuminates both the researches that finally made the heliocentric arrangement work, and the achievements in physics and metaphysics that made the planetary earth an integral part of Newtonian science. These are the developments that once again provided man with a coherent and self-consistent conception of the universe and of his own place in it. This is a book for any reader interested in the evolution of ideas and, in particular, in the curious interplay of hypothesis and experiment which is the essence of modern science. Says James Bryant Conant in his Foreword: “Professor Kuhn’s handling of the subject merits attention, for...he points the way to the road which must be followed if science is to be assimilated into the culture of our times.”

In 1965 the International Union of the History and Philosophy of Science founded the Nicolas Copernicus Committee whose main task was to explore the means by th which different nations could co-operate in celebrating the 5 centenary of the great scholar's birth. The committee initiated the publication of a collection of studies dealing with the effect that Copernicus' theory has had on scientific developments in centres of learning all over the world. An Editorial Board, consisting of J. Dobrzycki (Warsaw), J. R. Ravetz (Leeds), H. Sandblad (Goteborg) and B. Sticker (Hamburg), was nominated. We found that our initiative aroused a lively interest among Copernicus scholars; the present volume, with 11 articles by authors from nine American, Asian and European countries, contains the result of their research. It appears in the series 'Studia Coper nicana' by agreement with the Polish Academy of Science, and we hope to publish a number of other contributions in a subsequent volume. We are happy to say that our efforts have been fruitful and that this volume presents not only several in-depth studies, but also a more general survey of the rules governing the evolution of science, rules set within the framework of Copernicus' theory as it developed among various nations and in various scientific institutions over the centuries. It has been shown once again that, 500 years after his birth, the work of Copernicus remains a source of scientific interest and continues to stimulate fresh study and research.

In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus publicly defended his hypothesis that the earth is a planet and the sun a body resting near the center of a finite universe. But why did Copernicus make this bold proposal? And why did it matter? The Copernican Question reframes this pivotal moment in the history of science, centering the story on a conflict over the credibility of astrology that erupted in Italy just as Copernicus arrived in 1496. Copernicus engendered enormous resistance when he sought to protect astrology by reconstituting its astronomical foundations. Robert S. Westman shows that efforts to answer the astrological skeptics became a crucial unifying theme of the early modern scientific movement. His interpretation of this long sixteenth century, from the 1490s to the 1610s, offers a new framework for understanding the great transformations in natural philosophy in the century that followed.

Using Copernicanism, Darwinism, and Freudianism as examples of scientific traditions, Copernicus, Darwin and Freud takes a philosophical look at these three revolutions in thought to illustrate the connections between science and philosophy. Shows how these revolutions in thought lead to philosophical consequences Provides extended case studies of Copernicanism, Darwinism, and Freudianism Integrates the history of science and the philosophy of science like no other text Covers both the philosophy of natural and social science in one volume