The Copernican Revolution. Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought.

KUHN, Thomas S.

Item Number: 97999

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957.

First edition of Kuhn’s classic treatise. Octavo, original cloth. In near fine condition. Foreword by James Bryant Conant.

The Copernican Revolution is a work by the philosopher Thomas Kuhn, in which the author provides an analysis of the Copernican Revolution, documenting the pre-Ptolemaic understanding through the Ptolemaic system and its variants until the eventual acceptance of the Keplerian system. Kuhn argues that the Ptolemaic system provided broader appeal than a simple astronomical system but also became intertwined in broader philosophical and theological beliefs. Kuhn argues that this broader appeal made it more difficult for other systems to be proposed.