Profiles in Courage: Copernicus
Dateline: October 14, 1998
When we stop to consider some of the great names in human scientific achievement, a few stand from above the rest of the crowd: Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Einstein. When considering what they've accomplished, we are often quick to point out the raw intellectual power which is needed in such people. But we should remember that great moral qualities are also required - determination in the face of opposition, a will towards discovery, and a desire to improve human understanding. Being smart simply isn't enough.
Nikolaus Copernicus was one such individual. His work, although not immediately and widely accepted, lead directly to the undermining of centuries of assumption and superstition. In fact, his discoveries carried with them consequences which are even today not fully recognized by many people. Born in 1473, Copernicus began his studies in the fateful year 1492. This is a significant year in European history - it heralded in an age of discovery and the doubling of the size of the known world which helped broaden people's minds in a variety of ways. The world was not what it was once assumed, allowing many people to more easily accept the idea that other assumptions might be in error.
The cultural mellieu in which Copernicus studied was that of the Italian Renaissance. At the University in Bologna, he rubbed elbows with bright students from all over Europe and was himself voluntarily a part of the German "nation" (student group living together). Bold new ideas and intellectual freedom were developing here at the time, and this provided him with a background suitable to breaking the assumptions of traditional science. Such was the atmosphere in which Copernicus began to work - and when examining the accomplishments of great people, we should never fail to stop and consider the cultural background which is so important to all of them. After all, people don't live and develop in a vacuum.
Forestalling Danger
Copernicus spent a great deal of time working on his famous book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium - distilling a lifetime of thought and effort into it. He was quite aware of his place in history in writing this book, but he was also conscious of the conservative social and religious forces which would oppose his ideas. As a first precaution, he correctly identified the idea that the earth circled the sun not as originating with himself, but as existing among much earlier writers. Thus, the responsibility for suggesting a dangerous heresy was left to those long dead. In the dedication to Pope Paul II, the explained how Cicero reported that Hicetas belived that the "earth was moved" and that Plutarch and others held to the same idea.
He then went on to declare in bold language that
...I myself also began to meditate on the mobility of the earth. And although the opinion seemed absurd, yet because I knew the liberty had been accorded others before me of imagining whatsoever circles they pleased to explain the phenomena of the stars, I thought I might readily be allowed to experiment whether, by supposing the earth to have some motion, stronger demonstration than those of the others could be found as to the revolution of the celestial sphere.
In this dedication, Copernicus achieved several vital goals: he addressed his arguments directly to the Pope, the one man who could likely make or break his efforts; he shifted the responsibility of the original idea to respected ancient thinkers and thus protected himself from the worst consequences of heresy; he appealed to a new principle of intellectual freedom which would allow him and others to pursue these ideas to their logical conclusions; and he indicated that their validity would rest upon the results of their practical application to solving the current confusions over the movement of the heavens, rather than upon any compatibility with holy scripture or church doctrine.
His handling of potential contradiction with scripture and doctrine was done with equal care, diplomacy, and boldness. In contradicting either scripture or the writings of Church Fathers, he faced charges of heresy - which would have meant the end of his work and possibly of him, too. He faced down scripture by stating that no person should make the mistake of depending upon "wicked distortions to suit their purpose." Thus, he indirectly challenges traditional interpretations of scripture that might conflict with his ideas - something that could also be taken as a challenge to the Church which reserved sole authority in scriptural interpretation. Copernicus was more circumspect in this challenge than Galileo was later on.
Copernicus then moved to forestall critiques based upon other Church writings like those of Lactantius who had ridiculed anyone who thought that the earth was the shape of a sphere. People like Lactantius were "celebrated in other ways, but not for mathematics. Mathematics is written for mathematicians." Copernicus really put this Church Father in his place, carving out a role for him which had no business interfering with the work of science and declaring a separate mandate for science, distinct from the claims and critiques of those without the proper education to understand.
Religious Threats
And he displayed a great deal of intellectual and moral courage by doing all of this to Pope Paul III, who had just reinstated the Holy Inquisition in 1542 and had authorized the order of the Jesuits in 1540,. Until this time science had long been a servant of the church, but that was about to change - and with it, persecution would begin as well. For about 50 years his discoveries were tolerated and even accepted by the church - repression would not start until later (it was not put on the Index of Banned Books until 1616), and even then began in Protestant countries.
Luther called him a fool, and Melanchthon referred to his ideas as an "old joke." He even went so far as to declare that "wise rulers should tame the unrestraint of men's minds." This is a slogan which would reverberate down through the ages, and find a great deal of sympathy among many religious leaders in Europe and America in later times, including today. Repression from the Catholic Church was due in large part to the counter-reformation. In the effort to fight against the Protestant threat, dissent within Catholicism received less and less tolerance.
| Quote of the week: Who will venture to place the authority of Copernicus above that of the Holy Spirit? John Calvin, citing Ps. 93:1 in his Commentary on Genesis Taken from the Internet Infidels Quote File. |
It is unfortunate, however, that this book never benefited from much popularity. Only a very few editions have been published in the past five hundred years - and I do not believe that it has ever been fully translated into English. Popularization of his ideas was left to other, later scientists and writers like Galileo. Prior to that, his work convinced primarily "men of ideas" - those who could look at what Copernicus proposed and see what implications lay there, even though the math was at times faulty and some of this assumptions, like that the planets moved in perfect circles, were simply incorrect.
In fact, his description of the solar system did not immediately yield better results than the Ptolemaic system - at least, not until those ideas were refined by later work by researchers like Kepler. Important here is that Copernicus worked out a full system which offered a real, testable, observable alternative to the dominant theory. This alternative opened new doors to later work - and, eventually, a truly accurate understanding of how our solar system works.
Revolutions within Revolutions
But changing the way people looked at the movement of the planets was by far not the only revolution in science which Copernicus instituted. The aftershocks of his ideas - and their eventual proof - range over a wide area. The first, and most basic, was to shatter the egocentric view of humanity as sitting in the center of the universe. Previously, man sat at the center of the earth, and the earth sat at the center of the heavens. Now, although humanity still saw itself as the center of the world, their world was just one of many circling one star of - as it later turned out - many billions. Copernicus also recognized that, since the movement of the earth did not alter the relative positions of the stars, they must then be separated from us by immense distances. Our place in the universe was seriously revised, and that is likely one reason the Copernican system received so much opposition.
Astrology, too, took a major hit in credibility from Copericus - although you'd never know it by looking at its amazing popularity even today. In Copernicus' time, astrology and astronomy were only just managing to separate from each other, and most astronomers also did a great deal of astrological fortunetelling on the side. This was due not merely to the similarity in profession, but also to the fact that astrology paid well, whereas astronomy did not. Copernicus was fortunate to have other income, and never engaged in the astrological endeavors of his colleagues.
Astrology is based upon the simple idea of a parallel between the macrocosm and the microcosm. Events in the macrocosm of the universe - the movement of planets, stars, and constellations - are thought to exert profound influences upon events in the microcosm of humanity here on earth. This idea, fantasic to any rational and informed mind, relied upon the assumption that people are the center of the universe. This assumption, as we know, collapsed under the Copernican revolution - and with it any hope for a rationally based astrology. So few people even today realize that the astrology they follow is a product of the long discredited Ptolemaic system. Even fewer are aware that this system was produced at a time when people were not aware of all of the planets in our solar system. Over time, astrology has been jury-rigged to make up for that error - but you'd think that an accurate astrological system would have long since accounted for all of the elements in the macrocosm which affect our microcosm.
Disconnecting the fate of humans from events in the heavens also served to sever the connection between a both person's health and their social status from the stars. Thus, human health along with other human activities could become objects of independent research in their own right. On the one hand, more modern sciences like medicine became thinkable. On the other hand, people started to feel freer in their attempts to buck the traditional feudal system where one tended to accept the lot in life decreed by fate. When fate and destiny disappear, humans become free to create their own futures. Unfortunately, many this prospect continues to frighten many, and that may explain why expend so much effort in discovering their fates via astrology rather than creating their own fate via their own efforts.
This certainly wasn't meant to be an exhaustive and complete biography of Copernicus or discussion of his work. Instead, it is meant to provide some valuable background on some issues involving the contant conflict between scientific research and traditional religious dogma. It may have started with Copernicus, but it continues unabated today with cloning, evolution, genetic engineering, and more. The names and players may have changed, but the plot is still very familiar.
What do you think? Do you agree that moral qualities are as important to the characters of great scientists as their intellectual abilities? Why do you suppose that so many people adhere to belief in astrology, even though it is based upon a completely discredited view of the universe? Do you find that the nature of religious attacks on scientific discoveries has changed dramatically since Copernicus' time, or not? Let me and others know what you're thinking on these issues by posting to the bulletin board. You're ideas matter, and you should make them known.
