Galileos Letter to the Grand Duchess And so we begin Part I Background A Timeline of Events Mar 1610 Galileo published the Sidereus Nuncius Starry Messenger 1613 Time of Troubles in Russia ends ID: 677823
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Michael Appel + Will Baker
Galileo's Letter to the Grand DuchessSlide3
And so we begin...Slide4
Part I: BackgroundSlide5
A Timeline of Events
Mar 1610: Galileo published the
Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger)
1613: Time of Troubles in Russia ends
Dec 1613: Galileo wrote to Benedictine monk Benedetto Castelli on relation between science and religion
Dec 1614: Father Thomas Caccini, Dominican friar, publicly attacked Galileo for views on Copernican systemSlide6
A Timeline of Events
Feb 1615: G's letter to Castelli sent to Holy Office in Rome. G later finished
Letter
Dec 1615: G went to Rome to defend views
Feb 1616: G forbidden to hold the condemned Copernican theory by Jesuit Robert Cardinal Bellarmine
1616: Death of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu
Mar 1616: Congregation of the Index prohibited publication of Copernicus'
De RevolutionibusSlide7
A Timeline of Events
1618: Thirty Years' War begins
1620: Pilgrims arive at Cape Cod
Aug 1623: Maffeo Barberini is elected Pope Urban VIII
Oct 1623: G published
Il Saggiatore (The Assayer)
, responding to Jesuit astronomers about comets
1626: St. Peter's Basilica is completed
1631: Mount Vesuvius erupts (again)
1632: Taj Mahal startedSlide8
A Timeline of Events
Feb 1632: G's
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
was published
Aug 1632: Holy Office ordered sales of
Dialogue
suspended
Oct 1632: G summoned to Rome for trial
Jun 1633: G convicted, sentenced to home imprisonment
1636: Harvard University founded
1637: Descartes publishes
Discours de la Methode (Discourse on the Method)Slide9
History of the InquisitionSlide10
Something completely different...Slide11
History of the Spanish Inquisition
First Inquisition: end of 12th c. in France by Pope Lucius III
Alonso de Hojeda, Dominican friar from Seville, convinced Queen Isabella of Crypto-Judaism in 1478
Nov 1478: Pope Sixtus IV gave monarchs authority to name their inquisitors
Feb 1481: six people burned alive in SevilleSlide12
The Spanish Inquisition
Crypto-Jews
Moriscos
Protestants
Indexes of prohibited books
Witchcraft
Blasphemy
Bigamy
Sodomy
FreemasonrySlide13
Part II: A Basic IssueSlide14
Formalism
Cardinal Bellarmine: formalist: Heleocentrism can be used as a mathematical model.
"To say that the earth moves and the sun stands still saves all the appearances better than eccentrics and epicycles is to speak well...it suffices for mathematicians"
"But to affirm the sun is really fixed in the center of the heavens...is a very dangerous thing...injuring our holy faith and making sacred scripture false" Slide15
Realism: Galileo
Galileo believed that the universe was heliocentric in reality, rather than a mere model
In a letter to Bellarmine, states "I should not like to have great men think I endorse the position of Copernicus only as an astronomical hypothesis not really true."Slide16
Background to Debate: Ptolemy
Plato: goal of astronomy to "save the appearance" of planetary motion.
Ptolemy
"It is not proper to apply human things to divine things nor th get beliefs concerning such great things from such dissimilar examples"
Ptolemy believed his astronomy served as imperfect model of perfect heavens. Slide17
Tycho/Descartes Compromise
Tycho built a model of the universe with sun orbiting earth and planets orbiting sun, allowing model equivalent to heliocentrism with realism of geocentrism.
Descartes in his
Principles of Philosophy
redefined motion to allow for earth to be "carried" around sun while maintaining the earth to be immobile. Slide18
Aquinas on Nat. Philosophy
On Question 68 of the Summa, The work of the second day, Aquinas deals with intersection of natural philosophy and religion.
Incorruptible heavens: "the firmament, being naturally incorruptible, is of a matter not susceptible to change of form"
Authority of Scripture in interpreting natural philosophy: "I answer with Augustine 'these words of scripture have more authority than the most exalted human intellect.'Slide19
Aquinas cont.
Scriptural interpretation similar to Galileo: "In discussing questions of this kind two rules are to be observed...The first is, to hold the truth of Scripture. The second is that Holy Scripture can be interpreted in a multiplicity of senses"
Not always literal interpretation:
"It should rather be considered that Moses was speaking to ignorant people, and that out of condescension to their weakness he put before them only such things as are apparent to sense."Slide20
Part III: The LetterSlide21
A Summary
1. Academic philosophers value opinions more than truth.
2. Science makes no claim about religion.
3. Experience and the reason God gave us ought to be used to decide the meaning of Scripture, rather than a blind acceptance of authority.Slide22
A Summary
4. The purpose of the Bible is not to teach science.
5. G was concerned with the danger of allowing dogma to silence intellectual inquiry.
6. Finally, G urged scholars to seek the sense of the Bible with the aid of the sciences.Slide23
The Passages
Joshua 12:10-14
12
At that time Joshua spoke to the
Lord
in the day when the
Lord
gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
13
And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,
until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.
14
There has been no day like it before or since, when the
Lord
heeded the voice of a man, for the
Lord
fought for Israel.Slide24
The Passages
Psalm 93:1
1
The
a
Lord
reigns, He is clothed with majesty;
The
Lord
is clothed,
b
He has girded Himself with strength.
Surely the world is stablished, so that it cannot be
1
moved.Slide25
The Passages
Genesis 1:6
6 Then God said,
i
“Let there be a
3
firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”Slide26
The Issues
Reason vs. Authority
Purpose
Dogma vs. Inquiry
Science interprets ScriptureSlide27
Part IV: The Inquisition ReturnsSlide28
History of the World, Part 1Slide29
Reflection by JPII on Galileo
1979: John Paul II commissioned Pontifical Academy of Sciences to study Galileo case
Oct 31, 1981: Commision presents conclusions to Pope.
Pope John Paul II gave speech after this presentation, with the central theme that faith could not contradict reason. Slide30
John Paul II's speech
addressed modern issue of evolution: should have harmony of faith and scientific reasoning
"Let us think of the working out of new theories at the scientific level in order to take account of the emergence of living beings...In particular, when it is a question of the living being is a man... it cannot be said that these theories of themselves constitute an affirmation or denial of the soul"Slide31
Galileo case
JPII echoes principle of Aquinas "Truth cannot contradict truth"
in Galileo case, wanted to address "tragic mutual incomprehension that has been interpreted as a reflection of a fundamental opposition between science and faith"
Error of theologians of time: understanding of natural philosophy "imposed by literal sense of scripture"