You are viewing the historical archive of The Philosophy Forum.
For current discussions, visit the live forum.
Go to live forum

Space-time and astrology

Gregory May 12, 2021 at 14:04 2250 views 4 comments
In the Middle Ages the stars were seen as quasi-supernatural. I came across this view from that period from reading Aquinas actually, and he was not the only one to believe it. Astrology seems to be at least, if not more, important in those times as astronomy. The only things closer in substance to God then the heavenly bodies within nature were human souls for Medieval Catholics. Descartes's famous "metaphysical turn" in 1629 was a turning point in this regard, and Galileo at the same year was arguing with Aristotelians over whether heavenly bodies has supernatural "forms". The shift came largely with Descartes's vortex, which was latter replaced by Newton with the word Aether. Nowadays we call this spacetime, and time itself is now being seen as most fundamental by physicists:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKxQTvqcpSg

So it seems that time is the new Prime Mover in modern thought, and that this has replaced the old thought of heavenly bodies ("gods") revolving by the will of God. It certainly is a new aesthetic. Anyhow, comments?

Comments (4)

MAYAEL May 12, 2021 at 23:46 #535177
I find it strangely ironic that SpaceTime is considered a thing
Gregory May 13, 2021 at 03:01 #535217
Reply to MAYAEL

The whole point of the Copernican principle and relativity is that there is no center of the universe for the reason that every point has an equal right to be called the center. That too is strangely ironic. Consciousness is connected with objects in a perceptual experience that develops throughout life. We can not be separated from the world nor from spacetime during our existence
Wayfarer May 13, 2021 at 04:04 #535230
Quoting Gregory
Descartes's famous "metaphysical turn" in 1929 was a turning point in this regard


The turn must have been in his grave.
Gregory May 13, 2021 at 04:46 #535240
Reply to Wayfarer

opps, thanks