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DOI :10.26650/PB/AA08.2020.001.012   IUP :10.26650/PB/AA08.2020.001.012    Full Text (PDF)

What Was It That Didn’t Turn the World? The Idea of the Stationary Earth, Ibn Sīnā, and the Proofs That Followed

Mehmet Sami Baga

The Earth is positioned at the center of the universe in the Ptolemaic model of the universe. The center of the Earth is at the same time the center of the universe in this model. This system, which was constructed according to Aristotelian physics, was accepted as the prevailing theory up to the adoption of the heliocentric universal model in the 16th century. The Earth was at the same time assumed to be completely stationary in the geocentric theory. Movement around its own axis or around another celestial body was out of the question for it. In Antiquity and the Middle Ages when observational instruments like the telescope were not yet in use, this theory was seen to be rationally based on data obtained directly from the senses. In this context, various justifications had been provided about the world being stationary and existing at the center. Representatives from the Peripatetic philosophy in the Muslim world also were seen to accept the geocentric model. In The Book of Healing, Ibn Sīnā (d. 1038 CE) subjected the proofs that had come to him about the Earth being stationary by distinguishing an independent chapter. The 14th century follower of Ibn Sīnā’s philosophy, Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī addressed this topic in Ḥikmat al-‘ain, and the work’s principle commentators also commented on his assessments. This study will address Ibn Sīnā’s assessments on the Earth being stationary in the geocentric model of the universe and will discuss the reflections of these assessments in Ḥikmat al-‘ain as an Avicennan text.


DOI :10.26650/PB/AA08.2020.001.012   IUP :10.26650/PB/AA08.2020.001.012    Full Text (PDF)

Dünyayı Döndürmeyen Neydi? Durağan Dünya Düşüncesinin İbn Sīnā ve Sonrasındaki Delilleri

Mehmet Sami Baga

Batlamyusçu evren modelinde yerküre âlemin merkezinde konumlandırılır. Bu modelde yerin merkezi aynı zamanda âlemin de merkezidir. Aristoteles fiziğine göre kurgulanan bu sistem, 16. yüzyılda güneş merkezli evren modeli benimseninceye değin hakim teori olarak kabul görmüştür. Yer merkezli bu teoride yerkürenin aynı zamanda tamamen hareketsiz olduğu kabul edilir. Onun için kendi ekseni etrafında ya da başka bir gök cisminin etrafında hareket söz konusu değildir. Teleskop gibi ileri düzey rasat aletlerinin henüz kullanılmadığı antik dönemde ve orta çağda bu teorinin doğrudan duyu ile elde edilen verilerle rasyonel olarak temellendirildiği görülür. Bu çerçevede dünyanın merkezde oluşu ve hareketsizliğine dair çeşitli gerekçeler sunulmuştur. Meşşâî felsefenin Müslüman dünyadaki temsilcilerinin de yer merkezli sistemi kabul ettikleri görülür. Kitâbu’şŞifâ, es-Semâu ve’l-â’lem’de İbn Sînâ (ö. 1038) müstakil bir fasıl ayırarak yerin hareketsizliğine dair kendisine kadar gelen delilleri bir kritiğe tabi tutmuştur. İbn Sînâcı felsefenin 14. yüzyıldaki takipçisi Necmeddin el-Kâtibî de Hikmetü’l-‘ayn’da bu konuyu ele almış, eserin şârihleri ise onun değerlendirmelerini yorumlamışlardır. Bu çalışmada yer merkezli evren modelinde yerin hareketsizliğine dair İbn Sînâ’nın değerlendirmeleri ele alınacak ve bu değerlendirmelerin İbn Sînâcı bir metin olan Hikmetü’l-‘ayn’daki yansımaları irdelenecektir.



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