Heavenly Stuff. The Constitution of the Celestial Objects and the Theory of Homocentric Spheres in Aristotle's Cosmology

Kouremenos, Theokritos

ISBN 10: 3515097333 / ISBN 13: 9783515097338

Published by Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2010

About this Item

Volume cartonato rigido di pagine 150. Testo in lingua inglese, English text. Pari al nuovo (as new). Spedizione in 24 ore dalla conferma dell'ordine. This book offers a reappraisal of basic aspects of Aristotelian cosmology. Aristotle believed that all celestial objects consisted of the same substance that pervades the heavens, a stuff unlike those found near the center of the cosmos that compose us and everything in our immediate surroundings. Kouremenos argues that, contrary to the received view, Aristotle originally introduced this heavenly stuff as the matter of the stars alone, the remotest celestial objects from the Earth, and as filler of the outermost part of the heavens, forming a diurnally rotating spherical shell whose fixed parts are the stars, the crust of the cosmos which has the Earth at its center. The author also argues that, contrary to another common view, at no point in the development of his cosmological thought did Aristotle believe the heavens to be structured according to the theory of homocentric spheres developed by his older contemporary Eudoxus of Cnidus, in which the other celestial objects, the five planets known in antiquity, the Sun and the Moon, were hypothesized to move uniformly in circles, as if they were fixed stars.

Seller Inventory # 207128

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Heavenly Stuff. The Constitution of the Celestial Objects and the Theory of Homocentric Spheres in Aristotle's Cosmology
• Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3515097333
• ISBN 13: 9783515097338
• Binding: hardcover
• Condition: As New
• Weight: 1000 grams
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

This book offers a reappraisal of basic aspects of Aristotelian cosmology. Aristotle believed that all celestial objects consisted of the same substance that pervade the heavens, a stuff unlike those found near the center of the cosmos that compose us and everything in our immediate surroundings. Kouremenos argues that, contrary to the received view, Aristotle originally introduced this heavenly stuff as the matter of the stars alone, the remotest celestial objects from the Earth, and as filler of the outermost part of the heavens, forming a diurnally rotating spherical shell whose fixed parts are the stars, the crust of the cosmos which has the Earth at its center. The author also argues that, contrary to another common view, at no point in the development of his cosmological thought did Aristotle believe the heavens to be structured according to the theory of homocentric spheres developed by his older contemporary Eudoxus of Cnidus, in which the other celestial objects, the five planets known in antiquity, the Sun and the Moon, were hypothesized to move uniformly in circles, as if they were fixed stars.

About the Author

Theokritos Kouremenos is Associate Professor of Greek Studies at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His research interests are in ancient philosophy and science. He has published mainly on Aristotle and coauthored the 2006 edition of the Derveni Papyrus.