Illus­tra­tions

L’arbre de vie de E. Haeckel

Réfé­rences

Stof­fel (Jean‐François), A Per­sistent Myth : Com­pa­ring Geo­cen­trism to Anthropo­centrism and how this Vain Illu­sion Was Shat­te­red by Helio­cen­trism — Demons­trating the Impor­tance of Scien­ti­fic His­to­rio­gra­phy by Way of a Dis­cus­sion bet­ween a Student and one of His Pro­fes­sors, in Trans­ver­sal : Inter­na­tio­nal Jour­nal for the His­to­rio­gra­phy of Science, 2022, n°13, pp. 1 – 22.

http://​dx​.doi​.org/​1​0​.​2​4​1​1​7​/​2​526 – 2270.2022.i13.05

Télé­char­ge­ment

A Persistent Myth

Comparing Geocentrism to Anthropocentrism and how this Vain Illusion Was Shattered by Heliocentrism — Demonstrating the Importance of Scientific Historiography by Way of a Discussion between a Student and one of His Professors

Résu­mé

Selon le mythe coper­ni­cien, le géo­cen­trisme était une forme d’anthropocentrisme parce qu’il pré­sen­tait l’homme comme étant à la fois le centre et le but du Cos­mos, tan­dis que l’héliocentrisme, en détrô­nant l’homme de cette posi­tion pri­vi­lé­giée, four­nis­sait heu­reu­se­ment le moyen d’abattre ce point de vue, illu­soire et vain, qui allait même à l’encontre du pro­grès scien­ti­fique. Selon le mythe anthro­po­cen­trique, qui en fait par­tie, le géo­cen­trisme est une forme d’anthropocentrisme, tan­dis que l’héliocentrisme est en réa­li­té un anti‐anthropocentrisme et non sim­ple­ment un non‐anthropocentrisme. Cet article, sous forme de dia­logue, inter­roge ces deux mythes, en recher­chant notam­ment les causes de leur appa­ri­tion, par­mi les­quelles figure un ana­chro­nisme coupable. 

Abs­tract

Accor­ding to the Coper­ni­can myth, geo­cen­trism was a form of anthro­po­cen­trism because it show­ca­sed human­kind as being both the centre and the pur­pose of the Cos­mos, whe­reas helio­cen­trism, in dethro­ning human­kind from this pri­vi­le­ged posi­tion, lucki­ly pro­vi­ded a means to quash this point of view, which was illu­so­ry and vain, and that even went against scien­ti­fic pro­gress. Accor­ding to the anthro­po­cen­tric myth, which is a part of it, geo­cen­trism is a form of anthro­po­cen­trism, while helio­cen­trism is real­ly an anti‐anthropocentrism and not sim­ply a non‐anthropocentrism. This article, in the form of a dia­logue, ques­tions these two myths, loo­king in par­ti­cu­lar for the causes of their appea­rance, among which is a guil­ty anachronism.