OT of OT: Rating Fyron -- no longer possible

[Chronon]

Since we're off topic, I thought I should open a new thread for this discussion. You'll find it here

[Fyron]

This thread is already 100% off topic. Opening a new thread is redundant.

[Aloofi]

Originally posted by Chronon:
the Tychonic system. Tycho Brahe, perhaps the greatest observational astronomer of the time, had created a system that could explain all of Galileo's findings and still "save the appearances" and keep the Earth at the center of the universe. His system had the Earth at the center, the Sun revolving around the Earth, and all the other planets (except our moon, of course) revolving around the Sun.

Wow, amazing. I had never heard of this guy, though I was familiar with his concept.
When did he live?
Where was he from?

And can his theory be the correct one?

[Captain Kwok]

Originally posted by Aloofi:
Wow, amazing. I had never heard of this guy, though I was familiar with his concept.
When did he live?
Where was he from?

And can his theory be the correct one?

No, his theory cannot be correct, although I don't have enough time to explain why at the moment.

However, he died from an infection after his bladder burst (That's why you should never hold it ) while he was making observations one night.

[jimbob]

I think Tyco was Dutch. I remember reading a little blurb about "how does the other half die" which summarized the exit strategies of some of the greatest men of all time (Neo-Feminists: I mean men in exclusion of any feminine personages, it didn't discuss any women at all).

Sir Francis Bacon: froze to death when trying to determine if ice/snow would preserve meat

Genghis Kahn: died of a nosebleed when passed out drunk after his wedding

Tycho: died when his bladder broke because he was at a dinner party when he needed to go. Evidently the dinner parties were hours long, and it was excedingly rude to get up and leave the table. Personally I think that he should have just eaten a couple of double or triple salts to soak the water back out of the bladder

Anyway, I don't know if any of the above are true, it wasn't a peer reviewed article or anything. But it does show you, even the famous can go out in a less than "glorious" way.

[dogscoff]

the exit strategies of some of the greatest men of all time

Kind of an anti-Darwin award. That francis Bacon one sounds too outrageous, especially considering the irony of his name...

[jimbob]

The Church does not have a philosophical domain. It does not provide logical arguments for why it is right, it just says that what it says is right, period. So, there is no philosophy about it.

Well, besides the fact that the statement above is incredibly insulting, there are considerable volumes of religious philosophy, I dare say libraries full of philosophy that examines the meaning of life and our moral/ethical roles. Furthermore, not all philosophy is etiological in nature, philosophy is far broader than that! Finally, there are exceptionally logical arguments for the various religious belief systems, but if a person has already decided which world view is correct, they cannot accept the others as true. The most obviously a person who rejects the supernatural could never accept Hinduism, Shintoism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or Shamanism. Though a very small minority of Buddists are atheist, being a "non-supernaturalist" and a Buddist simultaneously is conceivable.

My argument was that the Church held back advancement during the European Dark Ages, not during this period. I just could not think of any specific examples of people during the European Dark Ages that were persecuted for thinking for themselves.

I could make an equally compelling (but not nearly as tired) argument that the Church was the only thing holding the medieval European civilization together, post-Rome/Byzantine. The fact that the only surviving ancient Greek texts (Plato and the boys) were maintained by Christian monks in Ireland would be only one of many sound arguments for the positive role of the Church in the advancement/maintenance of advancement of western mankind. The fact that Universities were created and sustained by the European Church would also be a strong argument for the positive role of the Church in the advancement of western mankind.

I guess I'm simply not willing to see the popular "Church = bad:Scientist = good" statement as either accurate nor fulfilling.