Science or Myth?:A Re-examination on the Nature of Philolaus'Astronomical System
Whether Philolaus'astronomical system is a scientific or mythical system was one of its central issues debated by previous scholars from disci-plines of classics,history of philosophy and history of science.Scholars'different answers towards this question were basically due to the divergent cogni-tions about the two fabricated bodies inside this system,namely whether the introducing of central fire and counter-earth were based on phenomena or theories.According to the verifications of original texts we can see that,the fundamental reason for Philolaus'setting the central fire should be his'limit-ing-unlimited'philosophical theory;however,it could also help explaining two specific astronomical phenomena.What is contrary to many previous scholars'opinion is that although Philolaus'intention to accord with the mystical number 10 cannot be excluded,the counter-earth could effectively ex-plain the different frequency of solar and lunar eclipses.If we take the perspective of history of ancient Greek astronomy for evaluation,Philolaus'astro-nomical system essentially belongs to the earlier Greek astronomy,rather than a so-called mythical system.
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