Michael Appel Will Baker - PowerPoint Presentation

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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

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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.”

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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.

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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

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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"