This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This paper is the summary of a part of an unpublished longer version. Preceding the talk, a short introduction to the general features of the Ptolemaic and Copernican system was given. The different treatment of planetary distances was especially stressed. Whereas in the Ptolemaic theory there is no general method of determining the planetary distances other than by metaphysical assumption. In the Copernican theory the dimensions of the planetary orbits can very easily be measured: for the inferior planets by finding the maximum elongation of the planet, for the exterior planets by comparing an opposition of the planet with the nearest case when sun and planet appear to form a rectangle as seen from the earth. For this, see Thomas S. Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution, Cambridge/Ma. 1957, p. 173. For details in the Ptolemaic theory cp. the excellent account of Karl Stumpff, Himmelsmechanik, Vol. I, Berlin 1959 and for the Copernican theory: Otto Neugebauer, ‘On the Planetary Theory of Copernicus’, Vistas in Astronomy, Vol. 10, 1968, pp. 89–103.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Heidelberger, M. Some intertheoretic relations between ptolemean and Copernican astronomy. Erkenntnis 10, 323–336 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00214727
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00214727