STUCK IN THE PAST
Misplaced Glorification of Tradition
THE Greek philosopher, Aristotle (BC 384-322), wrote in his treatise ‘Physica’ of the circle being a perfect, most beautiful geometrical form. It was echoed by Cicero who wrote in De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods): “Two forms are the most distinctive: of solids, the sphere... and of plane figures, the circle... There is nothing more commensurate than these forms.” On the basis of this supposition Aristotle maintained that since all of nature’s work follows the standard of perfection, the orbits chosen by nature for the revolution of heavenly bodies could only be circular.
This theory of Aristotle so dominated peoples’ minds across the centuries that all the systems of astronomy, for instance, those developed by Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe, were based on the supposition that the heavenly bodies, i.e. the planets of the solar system, revolved in space in circles.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) is the first person known to have thought differently. He made calculations in 1609 to the effect that Mercury’s revolution around the sun was not circular but elliptical. He predicted that all other satellites of the sun would be discovered to revolve around it in ellipses. This theory advanced by Kepler is today a fact.
Ancient astronomers remained lost in the concept of the circle for two thousand years. They could not think of any other pattern for the revolution of the planets. The reason was the sanctity attached to this theory of Aristotle. Having unquestioningly accepted this theory as an established fact, their minds were unable to work in any other way.
This reverence for tradition is not peculiar to ancient times. It has been a feature of uncritical thinking throughout the ages. In every epoch, some thoughts so dominated the human intellect that it became impossible for people to think independently. This still happens in both religious and non-religious spheres. It must be conceded that the greatest obstacle to all progress is the mind that remains obstinately closed.
