Celestial Dynamics at the Crossroads: Proclus' Reassessment of Plato in the Light of Empirical Science
TL;DRAbstract
The imbuing of the visible world with Reason necessitated for Plato an intermediary realm in heaven where physical bodies are seen to move with uniform and circular motion. Such an expression of celestial order was in keeping with Greek physical thought, and was adopted in turn by the later astronomers as they sought to account for apparent irregularities displayed by those very bodies in the heavens. The sophistication of the Greek scientific endeavour and especially Hellenistic astronomy led, however, to an ever increasing body of evidence which ultimately refused reconciliation with the mathematical constructs proposed to maintain the presumed uniformity.
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The imbuing of the visible world with Reason necessitated for Plato an intermediary realm in heaven where physical bodies are seen to move with uniform and circular motion. Such an expression of celestial order was in keeping with Greek physical thought, and was adopted in turn by the later astronomers as they sought to account for apparent irregularities displayed by those very bodies in the heavens. The sophistication of the Greek scientific endeavour and especially Hellenistic astronomy led, however, to an ever increasing body of evidence which ultimately refused reconciliation with the mathematical constructs proposed to maintain the presumed uniformity.
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