Galileo's mistake : a new look at the epic confrontation between Galileo and the Church / Wade Rowland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rowland, Wade.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642.

Galilei, Galileo.

Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642--Trials, litigation, etc.

Religion and science--Italy--History--17th century.

Religion and science.

Italy.

History.

Science--Philosophy.

Science.

Physical Description:

298 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Arcade Pub. : Distributed by AOL Time Warner Book Group, 2003.

Summary:

The modern understanding of the notorious 1633 trial of Galileo by the Inquisition is that of Science and Reason persecuted by Ignorance and Superstition -- of Galileo as a lonely, courageous freethinker oppressed by a reactionary and anti-intellectual institution fearful of losing its power and influence. But is that an accurate picture of what actually happened? The disagreement between Galileo and the Church seemed to center on Galileo's belief in the Copernican theory, which holds that the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun -- something we know to be true today. But was the debate really about the Copernican theory per se? If so, why was Copernicus never condemned? And why did the Church not bring to trial the other leading astronomers of the day who shared Galileo's Copernican views, some of whom were Jesuits in the Vatican? If the debate was not about this revolutionary theory of planetary motion, then what was it about?

In his provocative reexamination of one of the turning points in the history of science and thought, Wade Rowland contends that the dispute concerned an infinitely more profound question: What is truth and how can we know it? Ingeniously using the Socratic method -- a method Galileo himself employed -- the author demonstrates that in the epic confrontation between Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church at the dawn of the Scientific Revolution, Galileo's mistake was to insist that science -- and only science -- provides the truth about reality. The Church rejected this idea, declaring that while science is valid, it provides mere models for reality, models that enable people to better understand and manipulate the world around us. Truth is a metaphysical issue -- beyond physics -- and it involves such matters as meaning and purpose, which are unquantifiable and therefore not amenable to scientific analysis. In asserting the primacy of science on the territory of truth, Galileo strayed from purely scientific inquiry into the theological realm, an act that put him squarely on a warpath with the Church. The outcome would change the world. Wade Rowland's intelligent, erudite, and thoughtful exploration of an event that would forever define the modern era promises to disarm the most stubborn of skeptics and make for scintillating debate.

Contents:

Pope Paul V

A Time of Crisis

Doctrinal Revolutions

A Dialogue

Science's Motives

On Curiosity

A Negotiation

Galileo the Aquarian

Ptolemy's World

Comets and Supernova

Kepler's Genius

The Uses of Hypotheses

Young Galileo

The Studies in Motion

The Experimental Method

Number and Beauty

The Pythagoreans and the Reduction of Quality to Quantity

Ferrara and Copernicus

The Reluctant Revolutionary

Challenging Aristotle

A Stimulating Meeting

The Stagirite

The Primacy of Mind

The Good

Deductive Science

Aristotle's Influence

A Question of Infinity

Copernican Caution

Saving the Appearances

The Padua Years

The Telescopic Discoveries

The Lure of the Medici

The Jesuits

Rumors of Reaction

In the Medician Court

The Phases of Venus

Sunspot Disputes

Triumph in Rome

Cardinal Bellarmine

Bruno's Heresy

An Infinite Universe

Aristotle Revisited

The Struggles of Aquinas

The Return of Pythagoras

Storm Warnings

Cardinal Barberini

The Conflict Is Joined: "Letter to Christina"

Bellarmine's Response

Under Attack

A Dangerous Mission

Barberini's Argument

Defeat in Rome

The Warning

A Dialogue in Venice

Science's Successes

The Nature of Knowledge

Further Dialogue in Venice

Science and Faith

Faith and Reality

The Nature of Progress

On the Lido

The Problem of Objectivity

Reasoning's Recursiveness

The Map and the Territory

An Unfortunate Outburst

At Santa Maria Maggiore

Galileo's Conservatism

Kepler's Heterodoxy

A Remarkable Fresco

A Scientific Testament

Models of the World

The Paradox of Empiricism

Pope Urban VIII

Intimations of Change

Galileo's Dialogue

The Suppression

A Summons from the Inquisition

An Enigmatic Pope

A Mass in St. Peter's

A Chance Encounter

A Remarkable City

History's Parochialism

An Uncomplicated Man

The Motives of Pontiffs

A Dialogue in Vatican City

Galileo's Rehabilitation

"Learned Ignorance"

The Puzzle of the Abjuration

The Final Journey to Rome

The Inquisition

The Denial

The Confession

The Sentence

The Judgment and Abjuration

The Unspoken Issues

The Aftermath

Return to Arcetri

Discourses on Two New Sciences

A Visit from Hobbes

Milton's Tribute

On the Road to Florence

Galileo's Tomb

Human Happiness

Science and Number

Limits to Scientific Knowledge

An Unfinished Journey

On the Question of Galileo's "Perjury".

Notes:

"First published in Canada in 2001 by Thomas Allen Publishers and revised for this edition"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [283]-289) and index.

ISBN:

1559706848

OCLC:

51304090