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Aristotle and the Cosmic Game of Dice

Aristotle and the Cosmic Game of Dice Abstract In De caelo II.12 Aristotle considers the following problem. If the sphere of the fixed stars shows only one (kind of) movement it would be reasonable to expect that the number of movements of the other celestial bodies would proportionally increase with the increasing distance from the outermost sphere. However, the contrary happens: while the planets, which are placed between the outermost sphere and sun and moon, exhibit many and various movements, the sun and the moon perform only a few movements. In dealing with this problem Aristotle surprises his readers with an alarming comparison: when playing dice, he says, it is most difficult to make ten thousand successful throws in a series, while it is comparatively easy to make one or two of them. So the reader is faced with the image of a game of dice at a crucial point in Aristotle’s account of superlunary movement, which, apart from that, is supposed to be the embodiment of well-orderedness and regularity. The paper works out the whole comparison to which the mentioning of the game of dice belongs. It offers a reading of the corresponding passages that avoids the perplexing consequence that certain celestial bodies move just like dice. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Rhizomata de Gruyter

Aristotle and the Cosmic Game of Dice

Rapp, Christof
Rhizomata , Volume 2 (2) – Dec 1, 2014
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26 pages

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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by the
ISSN
2196-5102
eISSN
2196-5110
DOI
10.1515/rhiz-2014-0007
Publisher site
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Abstract

Abstract In De caelo II.12 Aristotle considers the following problem. If the sphere of the fixed stars shows only one (kind of) movement it would be reasonable to expect that the number of movements of the other celestial bodies would proportionally increase with the increasing distance from the outermost sphere. However, the contrary happens: while the planets, which are placed between the outermost sphere and sun and moon, exhibit many and various movements, the sun and the moon perform only a few movements. In dealing with this problem Aristotle surprises his readers with an alarming comparison: when playing dice, he says, it is most difficult to make ten thousand successful throws in a series, while it is comparatively easy to make one or two of them. So the reader is faced with the image of a game of dice at a crucial point in Aristotle’s account of superlunary movement, which, apart from that, is supposed to be the embodiment of well-orderedness and regularity. The paper works out the whole comparison to which the mentioning of the game of dice belongs. It offers a reading of the corresponding passages that avoids the perplexing consequence that certain celestial bodies move just like dice.

Journal

Rhizomata – de Gruyter

Published: Dec 1, 2014

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