Wednesday Wisdom

The Earth is flat-

Eratosthenes was a Greek philosopher/scientist that lived in the third century BCE in Alexandria, Egypt in what is known as the Hellenic period. He is renowned for his contributions to geography and for devising a method to estimate the Earth's size or circumference.

Eratosthenes' method involved measuring the angle of the sun's rays at two different locations at the same time and using this information to calculate the Earth's circumference. He noted that at noon on the summer solstice, the sun was directly overhead in the Egyptian city of Syene (modern-day Aswan), causing objects there to cast no shadows. At the same time in Alexandria, located to the north of Syene, Eratosthenes measured the length of a shadow cast by a vertical rod. By comparing these measurements and using the distance between Syene and Alexandria, Eratosthenes was able to estimate the Earth's circumference with remarkable accuracy. His method demonstrated a sophisticated understanding of geometry and laid the foundation for future advancements in geography and cartography. The world was getting smaller as Alexander the Great conquered the known world, but even the ancient thinkers new the earth was round.

The Ancient End of the world-

Sagres, Portugal sits on the most southwest point of the Iberian Peninsula and of Europe. Henry the Navigator, also known as Infante Dom Henrique in Portuguese, was a Portuguese prince and an important figure in the Age of Discovery during the 15th century. He was born on March 4, 1394, in Porto, Portugal and was the third son of King John I of Portugal and Philippa of Lancaster. Henry established a navigational school at Sagres where his institution became a center for learning navigation, cartography, and shipbuilding. Henry played a crucial role in initiating Portugal's exploration efforts during the Age of Discovery, a period characterized by maritime exploration and expansion under Henry's patronage. Portuguese sailors explored the west coast of Africa, aiming to find a sea route to Asia and find an ocean route for the spice trade. Gil Eanes, under Henry's sponsorship, became the first known European to successfully navigate Cape Bojador in 1434, overcoming the fears and superstitions associated with this point. Henry died in 1460, but Portuguese explorers continued his work. In 1488, Bartolomeu Dias became the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope (Africa). Vasco da Gama later sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached the shores of India in 1498. This started an exploration war with the Portuguese neighbors and rival, the Kingdom of Spain.

Spain set its sights on the New World by sponsoring Christopher Colombus’s1492 voyage that led to the European discovery of the Americas for the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was a Portuguese explorer who sailed for Spain. His expedition, which resulted in the first circumnavigation of the Earth, began in 1519, nearly 60 years after Prince Henry's death.

While the rest of Europe was still steeped in Medieval lore of sailing off the end of the world and mythical sea creatures, Spain and Portugal set their sights on the riches of the New World. The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed on June 7, 1494, in Tordesillas, Spain and it sought to resolve the conflicts between Spain and Portugal over the newly discovered territories. The treaty drew a north-south line of demarcation in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 370 leagues (about 1,500 km or 932 miles) west of the Cape Verde Islands. Spain was granted rights to lands west of this line, Portugal received rights to lands east of the line. Essentially Spain would get the Americas and Portugal would get Africa and the east. The line was somewhat arbitrary because South America had yet to be discovered and more importantly sailors and cartographers had yet to figure out how to correctly measure longitude. Latitude could be measured by tools like a sextant, which measure the degrees difference between fixed point in the sky like the noon day sun or at night with Polaris also known as the North Star. Because the earth rotates 15 degrees per hour, a precise time measurement was needed to be devised to solve the longitude measurement issue. This lack of clear measurement techniques played a large part in how Brazil became a Portuguese colony while the rest of the Americas were claimed by Spain.

It took well over 250 years after the beginning the age of discovery and many ships demolished before the longitude problem was solved.

Solving Longitude

By the 16th century France, The Netherlands and England had joined the maritime push to find commerce and colonies across the globe. The Longitude Act of 1714 established the Board of Longitude in England to evaluate proposed solutions along with the Royal Society of Science in London. Isaac Newton, who was President of the Royal Society at the time, summarized the state of scientific progress and the proposed methods for solving the longitude problem.

John Harrison was an English clockmaker and inventor. Born in Yorkshire, England in 1693, he was a son of a carpenter and combined woodworking skills with his love of mechanics. This led him to study horology, which is the science and study of measurement and time. He invented the marine chronometer, a highly accurate timekeeping device that allowed sailors to determine longitude at sea. He continued to improve upon his invention with his fourth design, H4, which was a compact sea watch that proved highly accurate during sea trials, losing only 5 seconds over a voyage to Jamaica in 1761-1762.

Solving the longitude problem was a significant epistemological accomplishment that improved navigation and cartography. Often overlooked in an age of modernity, Harrison’s invention led to saving countless lives and to mapping of the world with more accurate precision.

And now you know...

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science. 

Thank you, Dad, for the gift of curiosity

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses. 

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.