Cafe Scientifique
October 18th
Doctor George Couvalis
Flinders University, School of Humanities
Department of Philosophy
Presented:
Aristotle, Ptolemy and the interpretation of experience
In popular accounts, the Greek philosopher Aristotle and the Greek astronomer Ptolemy are widely thought to have made scientific mistakes because they don't carry out observations. In fact, they were careful observers. What they failed to do is interpret their observations correctly.
Dr. Couvalis used their mistakes to illustrate how interpreting observations are just as important as making observations.
