Copernican principle
Categories: Philosophy stubs | Cosmology | Philosophical terminolgy
The Copernican principle is the philosophical statement that no "special" observers should be proposed. The term originated in the paradigm shift from the Ptolemaic model of the heavens, which placed Earth at the center of the Solar system because it appears that everything revolved around Earth. Nicolaus Copernicus demonstrated that the motion of the heavens can be explained without the Earth being in the geometric center of the system, so the assumption that we are observing from a special position can be dispensed with.
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See also
- Anthropic principle
- Cosmological principle
- Doomsday argument
- Mediocrity principle
- Scientific revolution