On what philosophical conception of the universe was the work of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo based? Explain.
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and mathematician. Heliocentric model of universe was formulated by him. Johannes Kepler was a German astrologer, astronomer and mathematician, who supported both Ptolemaic and Copernican astronomy.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer, physicist, philosopher and mathematician, who corrected number of misconceptions about the world and other heavenly bodies. These three philosophers worked on the same concept and viewed the universe as a perfect machine.
Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo worked on the same philosophical conception of universe, which is Pythagorean-Platonic concept. They presented the earth and other heavenly bodies of the universe in a simpler and more harmonious mathematical order. Copernicus formulated the heliocentric model, which states that in the universe, sun is at the center and earth revolves around it.
Kepler proved many of the mathematical details of Copernican system and also found the path of planets around sun as elliptical rather than circular. The same concept was believed by Copernicus in his heliocentric model. Kepler also proposed laws about materiality that applied to things on earth and also to heavens. Galileo also explained true mathematical reality and accepted the Copernican heliocentric theory.
In one of his book, Galileo demolished all the misconceptions about the world of appearances and discovered other objects in the universe. Thus, all these three philosophers and mathematicians believed and demonstrated that the motions of all the bodies in the universe are governed by the single set of mathematical laws. All their explanation about reality was done in terms of mathematical order.