The antipodes according to Alexander Ross and John Wilkins: reading a dispute

Abstract

This article deals with the dispute which involved Alexander Ross and John Wilkins concerning the crisis of Aristotelic cosmology which occurred in the first half of the 17th century.
By examining the arguments of both thinkers pertaining to the idea of the antipodes in classical and Christian authors, this article seeks to reassess the traditional interpretation of this debate as the confrontation between an advocate of the ancient and an apologist of the modern by suggesting the reciprocal influence of both sides of the controversy.