本帖最後由 mca 於 2011-5-8 22:35 編輯
Old History
來源 http://www.bookrags.com/research/johannes-kepler-scit-031234/
Johannes Kepler's mother, Katharina, was known in her hometown as a cantankerous old woman. During the upheavals of the Thirty Years' War she became a victim of witch-hunting. A dutiful son, Kepler helped in her defense, which was both long and costly. Katharina's accusers pointed to dozens of occasions where various aliments or actions had occurred due to her magical potions or spells. Kepler's successful defense strategy was to show how all these occurrences could be explained by natural causes. For instance, a young girl claimed Katharina had made her arm temporarily paralyzed. Kepler pointed out that she had been carrying many bricks, and the heavy load had caused her problem. A woman's sickness was revealed to be from an abortion. The schoolmaster had been injured while jumping a ditch. The butcher had lumbago. And so on. Kepler was careful never to dismiss witchcraft out of hand, as many officials believed deeply in such magic. However, he showed that for each specific event attributed to witchcraft there was a more likely natural cause that explained the result at least as well. Yet, while Katharina was acquitted, she died shortly after, a broken woman.
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發表於 2011-5-8 21:55:29
發表於 2011-5-15 17:10:18