• scarabic@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Since literally everyone could be described as a believer in the past that’s not what I meant. We started with the word “theologian” and yes I assume any reasonable definition of that word is going to have high, high overlap with the clergy, with perhaps some exceptions.

    Newton was basically an astrologer.

    You lost me, friend. I’m not even sure we can agree to disagree at this point. I’m just going to back away slowly…

        • dwindling7373@feddit.it
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          3 months ago

          I can’t lose or win this is not a fight.

          Here you go, a different instance. It’s just wikipedia BTW: https://wiki.froth.zone/wiki/Isaac_Newton’s_occult_studies?lang=en

          Also here: https://webspace.science.uu.nl/~gent0113/astrology/newton_main.htm It’s clarified that the idea that Newton was into astrology has been discredited, but you can find reference to the matter at hand, his interest in theology, and the one of many of his/our predecessors.

          “From times immemorial, astrology has been a determining factor in the decisions and actions of men of all ranks and stations. At the begin of the 17th century, great scientists as Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler and Pierre Gassendi – now best remembered for their roles in the development of modern physics and astronomy – all held astrology in high esteem.”

          And later:

          “inspecting the inventory of the books from his library […] Among the 1752 books with identifiable titles on this list, no less than 477 (27.2%) were on the subject of theology, 169 (9.6%) on alchemy, 126 (7.2%) on mathematics, 52 (3.0%) on physics and only 33 (1.9%) on astronomy.”

          I hope you learnt something new. Have a nice day.