Lecture 12: Galileo & the Church © Darrin Durant 2004

Galileo & the Church: on the failure of Galileo’s ‘sound demonstration’

  • Galileo (1564-1642) forced to recant Copernicanism: 22nd June 1633
  • Typical historical models of the relationship between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ . . .

1: The Conflict model

2: The Harmony model

2a: Science and religion are convergent

2b: Science and religion are distinct

2c: Christianity encouraged the development of

science (e.g.: Merton (1938))

3: Contextual model: no unitary explanation

  1. The Conflict model:

1a. John William Draper (1811-1882) History of the Conflict

between Religion and Science (1874)

1b. Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918) History of the Warfare of

Science with Theology in Christendom (1896)

The Conflict Thesis as a Morality Play

Source of light - Experience Source of darkness - Dogmatic Tradition

Agent of light - Reason Agent of darkness - Authority

Moving principle = conflict

between the two

Science Religion

Truth ValidityIrrationalityError

Rationality

Objectivity Dogma

 The Galileo affair in the contextual model:

 A typical example of struggle among competing and overlapping groupings within the one social system to impose a definition of ‘natural philosophical’ truth & ‘theological’ truth and its proper relation to ‘natural philosophy’ and ‘theology’.

*** The Augustinian Tradition of Biblical Exegesis ***

St Augustine (354 - 430) outlined the basic procedures to follow (Commentary on Genesis), which St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) faithfully summarized (Summa theologiae). Two basic hermeneutical points:

  1. The scriptural texts must be assumed to be true, even where multiple interpretations were unavoidable.
  2. In cases where a scriptural passage conflicted with a demonstrated natural philosophical proposition, the demonstrated proposition must prevail to prevent any erosion of confidence in scriptural truth. Allegorical interpretations are thus allowed so that Scripture and demonstrated observations would be in harmony.

*** What happened? ***

  • Setting the scene for the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615)

 Counter -Reformation

Siderius nuncius (1610), Letter on Sunspots (1613)

 1613 Castelli chat with Grand Duchess (mother of Cosimo II)

 Galileo’s response to Castelli forms basis of Letter

 Caccini attack, 1614, and Galileo ignores advice of Cesi

 Bellarmine response to Foscarini, 1615

 Galileo tried to ‘enlighten’ Bellarmine

 Galileo on the ‘book of nature’ and ‘reality’

  • Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615)

 There are 2 books: the Bible and Nature

 A demonstrated proposition means you can interpret conflicting

passages in a metaphorical way

  • Galileo told not to hold nor defend Copernicanism, 1616
  • Pope Paul V, Bellarmine, and Cosimo II die, changing political landscape
  • Barberini elected Pope Urban VIII
  • Galileo dedicated The Assayer (1623) to the Pope
  • Mass intrigue and confusion, and some bad luck…

 1630: sends Dialogue to Riccardi, who passes it on to Visconti, whose friend, Morandi, had predicted the Pope would die early. Galileo dined with Visconti and Morandi, who were subsequently banished. Galileo’s friend, Ciampoli, was a friend of the pro-Spanish Borgia, who was attacking the Pope over the German-Protestant (Hapsburg) issue. The Dialogue was published in Florence, with the Holy Seal, but the Pope objected, discovering Riccardi’s seal of approval was given, but Ciampoli had ordered it.

  • 1632  1616 document prohibiting Galileo from “holding, teaching, or defending” Copernicanism held against Galileo
  • The Dialogue contained passages personally offensive to the Pope

Why did it happen?

 Personal politics?

 The Reformation and Counter-Reformation as ‘framing’?

 The Spanish thought Urban VIII was too friendly toward the French, & too liberal. Would he impose papal authority on a ‘stray’ Catholic?

 Galileo claimed he had a “sound demonstration” of the earth’s motion, but no-one agreed. Why?

 1. The Phases of Venus

 2. The Theory of the Tides


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