[lbo-talk] consumption and inequality

[John Thornton]

Dennis Claxton wrote:
> Joanna wrote:
>> Weren't the ancients nigh-obsessive in attention to
>> detail in their astronomy?
>>
>> After all the
>> astronomical theories of the middle ages could account for the facts as
>> well as the heliocentric theory. Geocentrism just had to be a little
>> more complicated in order to account for the facts.
>>
>> Joanna
>>     
>
>
> Before modern scientific methods were developed astrology and 
> astronomy overlapped and I'd say that in the middle ages astrology 
> trumped astronomy.  Medieval intellectual pursuits were about love 
> and law and poetry, to borrow a phrase from Morrissey.  Empirical 
> quantification and measurement were then gleams in the eye of 
> philosophers studying optics and were widwifed by double entry bookkeeping.

I think not.
The Egyptians and Maya were not able to figure out the precession of the 
earth without good empirical data taken from long term measurements.
Double entry bookkeeping had nothing to do with the extremely accurate 
measurements taken of the movements of the planets and stars taken in 
ancient times.

John Thornton