SCIENTIFIC PLATONISM

Why is it that, in some parts of the world, cold weather is always followed, after a certain period of time, by warm weather and that, after another period of time, cold weather returns? Perhaps it is because Hades abducted Core and took her to be queen of the underworld. As a result, Core's mother Demeter, the goddess of corn, refused to allow anything to grow. Demeter threatened to leave the land barren until her daughter was returned to her. Zeus pleaded with her, but Demeter would not relent; so Zeus commanded Hades to return Core. However, because Core had eaten seven pomegranate seeds while a prisoner of Hades, the god of the underworld had a legitimate claim on her. As a compromise, Core spends four months each year in the underworld, and Demeter allows nothing to grow until her daughter is returned to her in the spring.

Compare this explanation of the seasons with the explanation given by Aristotle, and you will find a very marked contrast. Aristotle held that all of the heavenly bodies were attached to concentric spherical shells made of a heavenly substance called aether. The spherical earth was at the centre of the shells. Each of these shells rotated at a uniform speed around a fixed axis which was attached to the next outermost shell. Given the orientations of the axes and speeds of rotation, one could predict extremely accurately the motions of the sun through the seasons.