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According to Aristotle, the circles and the spheres are a perfect figures and the heavens are a region of perfection. Therefor the heavenly bodies must move in circles. This type reason serves as a bridge or relation between ideas and objects. Am I right in assuming that this type of relation was criticized by Kant (as one of his main points in the book)?

User Smythie
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Final answer:

According to Kant's philosophy, knowledge arises from experience rather than inherent ideas of perfection, criticizing the ancient Greek approach of using philosophical notions like perfect circles to explain celestial motions.

Step-by-step explanation:

The connection between Aristotle's belief in perfect celestial spheres and the criticism from Immanuel Kant is indeed rooted in philosophical distinctions between ideas and observations. Ancient Greek astronomers like Ptolemy constructed models of the cosmos based on the observed motion of heavenly bodies and their philosophical belief in perfection represented by circles. However, these models required complex systems of epicycles to account for observed celestial motions and were eventually supplanted by heliocentric models that better fit the evidence.

Kant critiqued the assumption that our sense of perfection could directly inform our understanding of the physical universe. He argued that knowledge comes from our experiences of the world, which we then organize using our perceptions and reason. The shift from geocentric to heliocentric systems illustrates the move from belief-based models to empirical, observation-driven science, marking a pivotal moment in the history of astronomy and human understanding of our place in the cosmos.

User Rgthree
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