...revolutionibus to the level of a hypothesis: . . . these hypotheses need not be true or even probable, if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is sufficient... For it is quite clear that the causes of the apparent unequal motions are completely...

...has performed both these duties excellently. For these hypotheses need not be true nor even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations that alone is sufficient.16 Exactly this insistence that scientific theories are mere utilitarian hypotheses that...

...as well as for the past. The present author has performed both these duties excellently. For these hypotheses need not be true nor even probable. On...consistent with the observations, that alone is enough.' (This passage must have rather mystified the early reader of the book, since if one thing shines through...

...has performed both these duties excellently. For these hypotheses need not be true nor even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is sufficient. Perhaps there is someone who is so ignorant of geometry and optics that he regards the...

...geometry, for the future as well as the past. . . . [T]hese hypotheses need not be true nor even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is suff1cient. . . . And if any causes are devised by the imagination, as indeed very many are, they are...

...oft-defamed Osiander in his notorious preface to Copernicus' main work: 'For these hypotheses need not to be true nor even probable. On the contrary, if they...consistent with the observations, that alone is enough. Perhaps there is someone who is so ignorant of geometry and optics that he regards the epicycle of...

...truth as they are described. As Osiander put it: "These hypotheses need not be true or even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations that alone is sufficient."2 Osiander here shares what we can call the astronomical resignation of the medievals....

...convenient for astronomical computations [33]: These hypotheses need not be true or even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is sufficient. Osiander 's aim may have been to prevent the work from being immediately declared as heretical...

...geometry, for the future as well as for the past .... These hypotheses need not be true nor even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is sufficient.28 Predictively successful mathematical models can be formulated for any periodic process....

...fitting the observational data. Osiander says these hypotheses need not be true nor even probable; if they provide a calculus consistent with the observations, that alone is sufficient.5 On this view, astronomy may be valuable and capable of progress, but it does not tell...