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which idea of the ancient greeks did scientists during the 1500s and 1600s build up upon and disapprove
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During the Scientific Revolution (1500s–1600s) scientists both built on and rejected different parts of ancient Greek thought.
What they built on
- Greek mathematics and geometry (Euclid, Archimedes): the emphasis on rigorous geometry and mathematical description of nature became central — e.g., Kepler’s laws and Newton’s mathematics.
- The idea of a sun‑centered system had an ancient precedent in Aristarchus of Samos; Copernicus explicitly revived a heliocentric model.
What they disapproved (rejected or replaced)
- Aristotelian physics and the Ptolemaic geocentric universe: Aristotle’s qualitative ideas (natural places, heavier bodies fall faster, circular “perfect” heavenly motion) and Ptolemy’s Earth‑centered system with epicycles were overturned. Galileo’s experiments showed falling bodies behave the same regardless of weight; Kepler replaced circular orbits/epicycles with elliptical orbits; Newton supplied universal gravitation and laws of motion to explain planetary motion mathematically.
In short: they kept and extended the Greeks’ mathematical methods and some early heliocentric thought (Aristarchus), but rejected Aristotle’s qualitative physics and the Ptolemaic geocentric model, replacing them with quantitative, mathematical laws of motion and gravity. Would you like short profiles of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton?
What they built on
- Greek mathematics and geometry (Euclid, Archimedes): the emphasis on rigorous geometry and mathematical description of nature became central — e.g., Kepler’s laws and Newton’s mathematics.
- The idea of a sun‑centered system had an ancient precedent in Aristarchus of Samos; Copernicus explicitly revived a heliocentric model.
What they disapproved (rejected or replaced)
- Aristotelian physics and the Ptolemaic geocentric universe: Aristotle’s qualitative ideas (natural places, heavier bodies fall faster, circular “perfect” heavenly motion) and Ptolemy’s Earth‑centered system with epicycles were overturned. Galileo’s experiments showed falling bodies behave the same regardless of weight; Kepler replaced circular orbits/epicycles with elliptical orbits; Newton supplied universal gravitation and laws of motion to explain planetary motion mathematically.
In short: they kept and extended the Greeks’ mathematical methods and some early heliocentric thought (Aristarchus), but rejected Aristotle’s qualitative physics and the Ptolemaic geocentric model, replacing them with quantitative, mathematical laws of motion and gravity. Would you like short profiles of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton?
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