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Galileo’s Trial

Sun, Sep 7, 2008 at 8:35 pm Posted in Religion, Science

Interesting bit on the motivations for the trial of Galileo.  Historians are in large consensus that it was not Galileo’s scientific claims that resulted in his punishment, but that it was due to his political problem with the Pope.  His audacity was a problem because he essentially challenged the Pope and in that kind of situation, the Pope is going to win no matter what.

Now the very first written biography of Galileo has been rediscovered. It offers a rare glimpse into what people thought about the trial only 20 years after Galileo’s death and even suggests a tantalizing new explanation for why he was put on trial in the first place.

[...]

It goes like this: In the middle of the Thirty Years’ War between the Holy Roman Empire and almost every major power in Europe, tensions were high between Tuscany and Rome. The Tuscan Duke of Medici had refused to aid Rome in its war efforts against France. Pope Urban VIII decided to punish the Duke by arresting the Duke’s personal friend, Galileo.

Whatever its motivation, the Roman court found Galileo guilty of heresy and placed him under house arrest. He spent the first five years of his sentence in a small house near Florence, where he continued to publish work on the science of motion, and the next—and last—four years of his life confined to another home in Florence closer to his doctors.

Galileo, Reconsidered | Science & Nature | Smithsonian Magazine.

Often Galileo is used as a foil to attack religion in order to perpetuate the notion that religion halts the progression of knowledge.  This adds further evidence that this is not a good example for the science and religion discussion, but a far better example of the political environment of a theocratic rule.  It shows how power can diminish what we now call academic freedom.

Viewing 3 Comments

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    I always understood Simplicius to be a caricature of the academics of that day who followed Aristotle primarily, but the Bible secondarily. The educated academics had grafted 'science' (including the astrologer Ptolemy's teachings) onto the Bible - which was the root cause of the trouble. Needless to say, I have always drawn the exact opposite lesson from this example from the academic one. Galileo got a slap on the wrist in order to calm down the academics.
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    Drew

    It was the the publication of the science that resulted in the perceived insult. Yes, the root of the scandal was political. Galileo made the mistake of making the character in his dialogues (which was obviously meant to represent the good cardinal) into a superstitious dullard. In other words, the pope felt like he was being mocked (he was).

    However, the church, in its disciplining of Galileo, never once defended "science". Their tack was NOT "hate the sinner but love the sin" . . . if you get me. They could have disciplined him for being rude, but instead they decided to shut the whole opus down. They kept insisting that Galileo recant his Copernican model, basing a few verses as their authority for demanding this from him. Thus, it was precisely and undeniably the "science" which they denied in their determined quest to show Galileo just who was boss in that town.

    Galileo IS a perfect example of what can happen when we let piety dictate our advance as a species.

    peace

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    Thanks for that link. Especially it is interesting the lack of specifics regarding the events, given that this story has the same level as the flat earth theory in atheist polemics.

    During the inquisition, the usual practice was to put people out of their house and confiscate their property. It looks like Galileo not only didn't lose his property, but probably got free pizza delivery as a bonus. Since he was already old, not going far, but still able to continue his work, I have to wonder if this wasn't a bit of a tongue in cheek sentence.
 

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