»Astronom-filozof«: geneza koncepta in njegov pomen

In his famous Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican, Galileo Galilei ascribed to Copernicus the status of astronomer-philosopher. Heliocentric astronomy was a result of Copernicus' dissatisfaction with the traditional astronomer's task of “saving the appearances” and of his insistence on answering the philosophical questions about the constitution of the universe. The author of the article first presents Geminos’ classical description of the relative tasks and epistemological range of astronomy and philosophy, and then shows, through a brief analysis of the astronomical work of Peurbach and Regiomontanus, how the split between astronomy and philosophy was overcome already in the late Middle Ages (or Renaissance). The last part of the article deals with an analysis of Copernicus' programme of “philosophical” astronomy. Copernicus' astronomical-philosophical programme, which resulted in a heliocentric version of Ptolemaic astronomy, was a reply to the Averroistic challenge of the restoration of homocentric astronomy, by which some authors (Amico, Fracastoro) tried to establish astronomy on established, sound philosophical foundations. Contrary to this, Copernicus established an astronomy for which he himself invented the philosophical principles (the movement of the Earth).Galileo Galilei je v svojem slavnem Dialogu o dveh glavnih sistemih sveta, ptolemajskem in kopernikanskem Koperniku pripisal status »astronoma-filozofa«. Heliocentrična astronomija je posledično rezultat dejstva, da se Kopernik ni zadovoljil zgolj z »reševanjem pojavov«, kar je bila tradicionalna naloga astronomije, temveč je menil, da mora astronomija odgovoriti tudi na filozofska vprašanja o ustroju vesolja. V članku najprej obravnavamo klasično Geminovo opredelitev nalog in epistemološkega dometa astronomije in filozofije, nato pa prek kratke analize astronomije Peurbacha in Regiomontana pokažemo, kako je ločnica med astronomijo in filozofijo v določeni meri padla že v poznem srednjem veku oziroma renesansi. V zadnjem delu članka analiziramo, kaj je program »filozofske« astronomije pomenil za Kopernika in njegovo delo. Kopernik je z »astronomsko-filozofskim« programom, katerega posledica je bila heliocentrična različica ptolemajske astronomije, odgovoril na averroistični izziv obuditve homocentrične astronomije, s katero so skušali nekateri avtorji vzpostaviti astronomijo na že vzpostavljenih, pravih filozofskih načelih (Amico, Fracastroro). V nasprotju z njimi je Kopernik vzpostavil astronomijo, ki ji je sam našel prava filozofska načela (gibanje Zemlje)