The Copernican Achievement (Contributions of the UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 7)

Introduction: The Copernican Achievement / Robert S. Westman -- Rheticus, Ravetz, And The Necessity Of Copernicus' Innovation / Curtis A. Wilson -- Commentary / Salomon Bochner -- On Copernicus' Theory Of Precession / Noel Swerdlow -- Commentary: Remarks On Copernicus' Observations / Owen Gingerich -- Erasmus Reinhold's Determination Of The Distance Of The Sun From The Earth / Janice Henderson -- Commentary: The Role Of Error In Ancient Methods For Determining The Solar Distance / Ernest S. Abers, Charles F. Kennel -- The Arts Faculty At The University Of Cracow At The End Of The Fifteenth Century / Paul W. Knoll -- Commentary: In Defense Of Context / Nicholas H. Steneck -- The Dialectical Preparation For Scientific Revolutions / Amos Funkenstein -- Commentary: Dialectical Aspects Of The Copernican Revolution: Conceptual Elucidations And Historiographical Problems / Maurice A. Finocchiaro -- Andreas Osiander's Contribution To The Copernican Achievement / Bruce Wrightsman -- The Solid Planetary Spheres In Post-copernican Natural Philosophy / William H. Donahue -- Commentary: Duhem And Donahue / John L. Heilbron -- Three Responses To The Copernican Theory: Johannes Praetorius, Tycho Brahe, And Michael Maestlin / Robert S. Westman -- Commentary: Fictionalism And Realism In Sixteenth-century Astronomy / Peter K. Machamer -- Why Did Copernicus' Research Program Supersede Ptolemy's? / Imre Lakatos And Elie Zahar -- Commentary / Stephen E. Toulmin. Edited By Robert S. Westman. Papers From A Symposium Held At The University Of California At Los Angeles, Nov. 1-2, 1973. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. The notion of scientific achievement may have both descriptive and normative meanings, and it may refer to an act of individual discovery as well as to the tradition of research founded upon that innovation. The essays gathered in this volume to honour the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicholas Copernicus well illustrate the diversity of issues that may be assembled under the rubric "Copernican Achievement". Finely honed technical analyses of Copernicus' astronomy; studies of his early formative years at the university; the intriguing circumstances surrounding the publication of De revolutionibus and the virtually unknown career of Copernicus' "editor", Andreas Osiander; the complex and difficult question of how the new theory was received by academic natural philosophers and astronomers; the equally demanding philosophical problem of establishing universal conditions according to which the Copernican theory might be compared to the Ptolemaic as a scientific theory; the historical and conceptual preconditions for a scientific revolution of the sort inaugurated by Copernicus - such is a wide range of issues considered in this volume.