The garbage can of the universe

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Lots and lots of people will tell you that heliocentrism was disturbing when it was first being debated because it "displaced humanity from the center of the universe."

But when I ask actual historians of science about this, they say there is just no evidence for this at all. Here's is yet more testimony to this effect: the center of the universe was it cesspit, and at the very center was hell and the demons: the very worst place to be of all! To get out of the center was a promotion.

Comments

  1. Scott12:42 AM

    Hmmmm....

    So, the 'cesspit' we would identify (physically) with the earth's core, such that the demons and hell are at the center of 'worldliness', with us on the 'outside' on the earth's surface, and outside of that the sky and the 'heavens' and outside of that, I suppose, would be God, such that He contains everything and stands outside of it all -- to produce a 'transcendent' cosmology (i.e., God and Heaven 'outside' the world)?

    (Obviously that's a lot of guessing and conjecture on my part, but I wouldn't really know where to find the rest of the 'picture.' Even so -- NEATO! Thank you!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. gcallah2:14 PM

      Yes, that is pretty much the Aristotelean-Christian synthesis. "Gross matter" fell to earth because of its weightiness, whereas more refined elements such as fire rose towards the heavens. The center was NOT a good place to be!

      Delete
    2. Unknown3:46 PM

      Gene, in one of my classes on Modern European philosophy, this exact point was made! The 'center' of the cosmos was something associated with decay, wrongness, etc. Pop history is garbage.

      Delete

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