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Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Letter to the Grand Duchess Julia Henkels and Diana Robinson Julia Henkels and Diana Robinson PHIL/PHYS 30389 PHIL/PHYS 30389 February 23, 2006 February 23, 2006

Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Julia Henkels and Diana Robinson PHIL/PHYS 30389 February 23, 2006

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Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels and Diana RobinsonJulia Henkels and Diana RobinsonPHIL/PHYS 30389PHIL/PHYS 30389February 23, 2006February 23, 2006

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

Mathematical vs. PhysicalMathematical vs. Physical

Instrumental vs. RealismInstrumental vs. Realism

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

“…“…it is not proper to it is not proper to apply human things apply human things to divine things nor to to divine things nor to get beliefs get beliefs concerning such concerning such great things from great things from such dissimilar such dissimilar examples”examples”

--Ptolemy,on his --Ptolemy,on his system of cycles and system of cycles and epicyclesepicycles

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

Galileo BellarmineGalileo Bellarmine

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

“…“…to affirm that the sun is really fixed in to affirm that the sun is really fixed in the center of the heavens… and that the the center of the heavens… and that the earth is situated in the third sphere… is a earth is situated in the third sphere… is a very dangerous thing… injuring our holy very dangerous thing… injuring our holy faith and making sacred scripture false”faith and making sacred scripture false”

--Robert Cardinal Bellarmine--Robert Cardinal Bellarmine

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

“…“…the surest way to prove that the the surest way to prove that the position of Copernicus is not contrary to position of Copernicus is not contrary to Scripture would be to give a host of Scripture would be to give a host of proofs that it is true… this and the Bible proofs that it is true… this and the Bible must be perfectly harmonious. But how must be perfectly harmonious. But how can I do this… when those [Aristotelians can I do this… when those [Aristotelians are] incapable of following even the are] incapable of following even the simplest… of arguments… ?”simplest… of arguments… ?”

--Galileo --Galileo

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

Interpreting Interpreting ScriptureScripture

Ptolemaic vs. Copernican modelsPtolemaic vs. Copernican models Tycho BraheTycho Brahe LutherLuther Christopher ClaviusChristopher Clavius

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

I. A Basic IssueI. A Basic Issue

Tycho Brahe’s ModelTycho Brahe’s ModelJulia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

The stage was set for battle.The stage was set for battle.--James T. Cushing--James T. Cushing

Philosophical Concepts in PhysicsPhilosophical Concepts in Physics

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessII. The Letter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Date & LocationDate & LocationDecember 1613, PisaDecember 1613, Pisa

HostHostGrand Duke Cosimo IIGrand Duke Cosimo II

GuestsGuestsDowager Grand Duchess, Christina of Dowager Grand Duchess, Christina of

LorraineLorraine

Benedetto CastelliBenedetto Castelli

The AristotelianThe Aristotelian

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

1. Galileo’s persecutors valued opinions and past beliefs more than truth. The arguments against him were focused on incompatibility with the Bible rather than oppositions to the validity of his science.

“Showing a greater fondness for their own opinions than for truth they sought to deny and disprove the new things which, if they had cared to look for themselves, their own senses whould have demonstrated to them.”

“…these men have resolved to fabricate a shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion and the authority of the Bible.”

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

2. Science does not dictate or change religious beliefs. The Bible was written in the language of the common people for whom it was intended. Thus, interpretation of physical aspects of Scripture is necessary.

“These propositions uttered by the Holy Ghost were set down in that manner by the sacred scribes in order to accommodate them to the capacities of the common people, who are rude and unlearned.”

“…these things in no way concern the primary purpose of the sacred writings, which is the service of God and the salvation of souls – matters infinitely beyond the comprehension of the common people.”

“Who, then, would positively declare that…the Bible has confined itself rigorously to the bare and restricted sense of its words, when speaking but casually of the earth, of water, of the sun, or of any other created thing?”

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

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.

“But I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.”

“And to ban Copernicus now that his doctrine is daily reinforced by many new observations and by the learned applying themselves to the reading of his book…would seem in my judgment to be a contravention of truth, and an attempt to hide and suppress her the more as she revealed herself the more clearly and plainly.”

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

4. The purpose of the Bible is not to teach science. Galileo again stresses the unity of truth.

“The intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven, not how heaven goes.”

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

5. Galileo was concerned with the danger of allowing dogma to silence intellectual inquiry.

“Who indeed will set bounds to human ingenuity? Who will assert that everything in the universe capable of being percieved is already discovered and known? Let us rather confess quite truly that ‘Those truths which we know are very few in comparison to those which we do not know.’”

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

II. The II. The Letter to the Grand DuchessLetter to the Grand Duchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

6. Finally, Galileo urged scholars to seek the sense of the Bible with the aid of the sciences.

“the interpretation which we impose upon passages of Scripture would be false whenever it disagreed with demonstrated truths… therefore we should seek the incontravertible sense of the Bible with the assistance of demonstrated truth, and not in any way to try to force the hand of Nature or deny experiences and rigorous proofs in accordance with the mere sound of words that may appeal to our fraility.”

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

• Born in Florence

• Maffeo Barberini

• 1568 - 1644

• Doctor of Law from University of Pisa in 1598• Elected Pope in 1623

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

• 1611 – Galileo and Cardinal Barberini meet

• Dinner given by the Grand Duke in Florence

• Barberini supported Galileo’s views on floating bodies against Cardinal Gonzaga

• Patron/Client Relationship

• 1624 – Galileo comes to Rome and visits with the Pope

• Granted permission to discuss Ptolemaic and Copernican theories

• 1623 – Galileo dedicates his newly published book, Il saggiatore (The Assayer), to the new Pope

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

• The Ptolemaic and Copernican theories were only to be discussed “hypothetically” and impartially• Simplicio’s concluding argument and Salviati’s concluding response• Ridiculed and betrayed the

trust of the Pope

The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

A Defensive Church

• 1517: Martin Luther’s “95 These” and the Protestant Reformation

• 1337 – 1453: Hundred Years War

• The Inquisition

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Reminder: Galileo has a History with the Church that leads up to 1632 and

the Church’s Response to his Dialogue

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Conviction

• Formally interrogated by the Inquisition from April to June• A plea bargin is made, and Galileo confesses that the Dialouge may have been too partial to the Copernican system• Pope Urban VIII sentences Galileo to life imprisonment in his villa near Florence

• Pope Urban VIII appoints Cardinal Francesco Barberini as chairman of a committee to asses charges against Galileo

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

“Who can doubt that it will lead to the worst disorders when minds created free by God are compelled to submit slavishly to an outside will? When we are told to

deny our senses and subject them to the whim of others?”

-Galileo, penned in the margins of his copy of the Dialogue

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

III. Galileo and Urban VIIIIII. Galileo and Urban VIII

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

In 1992, over 350 years after Galileo’s trial and sentencing, The Roman Catholic Church formally acknowledged that the church was wrong in its treatment of Galileo

The Dialogue was removed from the Index of Prohibited Books in 1824

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

IV. Religion vis-à-vis Natural IV. Religion vis-à-vis Natural PhilosophyPhilosophy Institutional Authority vs. Freedom of Institutional Authority vs. Freedom of IndividualIndividual Church vs. ScienceChurch vs. Science

GalileoGalileo HobbsHobbs Whitehead Whitehead

““the search into nature could only result in the the search into nature could only result in the vindiction of the faith in rationality”vindiction of the faith in rationality”““The faith in the possability of science… is an The faith in the possability of science… is an unconcious derivative from medieval theology”unconcious derivative from medieval theology”

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389

Galileo’s Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Letter to the Grand DuchessDuchess

Questions?Questions?

Julia Henkels • Diana Robinson February 23, 2006 PHIL/PHYS 30389