Underdetermination and Decomposition in Kepler’s Astronomia Nova
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2012
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Abstract
This paper examines the underdetermination between the Ptolemaic, Copernican, and the Tychonic theories of planetary motions and its attempted resolution by Kepler. I argue that past philosophical analyses of the problem of the planetary motions have not adequately grasped a method through which the underdetermination might have been resolved. This method involves a procedure of what I characterize as decomposition and identification. I show that this procedure is used by Kepler in the first half of the Astronomia Nova, where he ultimately claims to have refuted the Ptolemaic theory, thus partially overcoming the underdetermination. Finally, I compare this method with other views of scientific inference such as bootstrapping.
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renaissance and early modern, underdetermination, measurement, astronomy, how underdetermination is resolved with new assumptions and measurements in Kepler's astronomy
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Downstream publication: Miyake, Teru. (2015) "Underdetermination and decomposition in Kepler's Astronomia Nova." Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, Special Issue 50 Integrated History and Philosophy of Science in Practice, 20-27.