The Flat Earth Society
Flat Earth Discussion Boards => Flat Earth Theory => Topic started by: LoveScience on November 19, 2018, 09:10:29 PM
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Reading through the various 'evidence' material described in the tfes.org pages, one cannot help but see some comparisons with the Aristotelian universe (http://www.pas.rochester.edu/~blackman/ast104/aristotle8.html). Mind you as it states on the first paragraph even he accepted that the Earth had to be spherical in form as its shadow was always circular. That means Aristotle observed lunar eclipses since that is the only time when the shadow of the Earth becomes visible. Apart from that is the occasions when the ISS and other satellites suddenly vanish as they traverse across the sky. Perhaps I should say apparent rather than visible. You can't see a black shadow on a black background!
What Aristotle did do was support a geocentric model for the Universe and that is entirely reasonable for his time because yes, from the surface of the Earth it does appear as though all the heavenly bodies circle a stationary Earth. It wasn't until the early 17th century and Galileos ground breaking observations of the satellites of Jupiter among other things that the heliocentric universe that Copernicus had envisioned before Galileos time was now supported by direct observations. Those observations were later refined to an unprecedented level by Tycho Brahe who was a near perfectionist observer. His observations helped Johannes Kepler set out his 3 laws of planetary motion that we continue to use to this day to for making predictions of planetary and cometary positions. This is a classic tale of the scientific method in action.
One of the main problems with the geocentric model is that it was too complicated. A bit like forcing ill fitting jigsaw pieces into place to make the complete picture. The heliocentric model on the other hand is simple and while Copernicus failed to create a scientifically accurate model by assuming the planetary orbits are circular, this was corrected by Kepler when he changed the circular orbits to become elliptical.
Fully appreciate that some will ask what does the above have to do with FE theory? Well there are striking parallels between how FE believers seem to think the Solar System is set out and Aristotles geocentric universe model.
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Take a look at this: https://wiki.tfes.org/Astronomical_Prediction_Based_on_Patterns
Ptolmy and Hipparchus did not actually believe that the planets rotated on epicycles. That was just a mathematical device used to predict the complex 'perterbations' or 'variations' of the planets. An example is given of using epicycles to predict the tides; yet no one believes that the tides are on a system of circular cranks. The system is merely a method to predict patterns.