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The influence of religion on science
How religion plays a role in science
The influence of religion on science
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Throughout his various works and discoveries, Galileo makes a distinction between religion and natural philosophy that holds up beyond his personal feelings, proven through his various works and discoveries. The Aristotelian view of the universe was based upon a common sense argument that gave credit to many discoveries throughout antiquity. Those discoveries were based upon a mix of science and scripture that was regarded as fact. Galileo brings something different to the table, the notion of observation. In appealing to observation, Galileo is able to make a clear distinction between religion and natural philosophy that is credible beyond his personal beliefs.
Throughout his career, Galileo had to argue against the longstanding belief in
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In order to distinguish between religion and natural philosophy, Galileo appealed to the centuries old sentiment of observation. If people were able to reproduce or procure their own instrument such as the telescope, they could simply observe the craters and shadows of the moon themselves. People would be able to observe the change in the appearance of the lunar surface in connection to how it was struck by the suns rays (Biagoli 2006, 106). In a broad sense, Galileo was able to build what we would call the basic elements of science today, validity and replicability, which allowed him to divide religion and …show more content…
One excerpt is from the previously mentioned Dialogue of the Two Chief World Systems (1632) in which Galileo debates the arguments of Aristotle and Potelmy against those of Copernicus through three characters, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio. On day three of the arguments, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio debate heliocentrism. Simplicio applies to Ptolemy’s zodiacal philosophy in claiming that the earth is the center of the universe: “…if the terrestrial globe should move in the course of a year along the circumference of a circle, namely, along the zodiac, it would be impossible for it to be simultaneously at the center of the zodiac” (Finnochiaro 2008, 234). In retaliation, Salviati appeals to observation. He says that all the planets are sometimes different distances from the earth. Salviati states that Aristotle was wrong in his thinking that all the planets are an equal distance from earth (Finnochiaro 2008, 236). To explain his point in more detail, Salviati has Simplicio draw a diagram according to the observation of the heavenly bodies. “… the heavenly bodies have been arranged just as in the Copernican system, and you have done this yourself” (Finnochiaro 2008, 240). In the Dialogue, Galileo has Salviati use observation to explain to Simplicio that recent discoveries are more in line with the Copernican view and that in turn, heliocentrism should be seen as more credible and valid in the scientific
Galileo had heard about the theories that the previous scientists had stated. Galileo wanted to see if what they were saying was accurate. To prove the heliocentric theory he invented the telescope in the year 1609 that help to confirm that it was in fact the heliocentric model instead of what everyone believed which was the geocentric model. Galileo started to share his discoveries to the public, but stopped after the Church told him not to share the information. (Doc ) However, the timeline indicates that Galileo waited seventeen years before sharing the information again publicly, so he actually obeyed the Church’s request for a very long time. Galileo was a devoted Catholic and strongly believed in the words of the Bible. In a letter written in 1615 written by Galileo to the duchess of Tuscany Galileo he stated how the Bible can sometime be misunderstood,“ But [he] believe that nobody will deny that the Bible is often very complex, and may say things which are quite different from what its bare words signify…”(document A). Galileo wanted to convince the Duchess that perhaps the evidence he gathered could be used to interpret the sun’s placement as the Bible was difficult to understand at times. The fact that Galileo was so religious validated his reliability, because he would have favored the Bible over his theory. He only argued about this one concept from the Bible and he had physical evidence and support from other scientists to prove his
During the Scientific Revolution, the struggle between faith and reason was exhibited through Galileo and his discoveries. The Catholic Church during the time period of the Scientific Revolution did not approve of any outside scientists who came up with new theories and observations. The Church believed that all information about how the world worked was in the bible and that was the only right source. In an excerpt from “What is Scientific Authority?” written by Galileo in 1615, it states, “Showing a greater fondness for their [Catholic Church’s] own opinions than for truth, they sought to deny & disprove the new things which, if they had cared to look for themselves, their own senses would have demonstrated to them…” Galileo Galilei himself knew that the Church was not willing to approve of new ideas from other scientists, but only from the teachings in the Bible. Later on in the excerpt, Galileo writes, “They [Catholic Church] hurled various charges &…made the grave mistake of sprinkling these with passages taken from places in the Bible which they had failed to understand properl...
Galileo’s contributions to the science of Physics and Astronomy were many. His conviction was legendary. His willingness to suffer for his beliefs exemplify true courage in the name of truth, and has inspired others to venture intellectual independence from the Church‘s creeds, edicts, and proclamations. Perhaps these contributions led to the call for an investigation into Galileo's conviction, eventually calling for its reversal, in 1979 by Pope John Paul II. But regardless of his standing in the annals of the Catholic church he will always be the man who began the separation of science and religion.
I think that according to Galileo an individual gains knowledge of nature threw observation. Galileo believed no one really went out into the world as he did and used the senses that God gave us when we where created, to observe the physical world. He was a very persistent individual and was always looking further into what he observed our read. Many people went along with how he gained knowledge of nature but the few who did not tried to find other ways to damage his beliefs and ideas.
In 1695 Galileo wrote a Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina. This letter discussed the relationship between the traditional biblical beliefs of the time (the basis on which their society was built), scientific discoveries, and their correlation with one another. The purpose of the letter was to inform that the scientific discoveries being made were not hearsay or contradictory to the Bible, rather they were natural laws, which could coincide with Scriptural based beliefs, not oppose them. In the Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo implies that science is the means by which G-d meant for humanity to understand scriptural truths. This belief can be applied to the present day by finding equilibrium, and in turn allowing for a balanced life.
The main argument which Galileo’s opponents used against his theory was that in many places in the Bible it is mentioned that the Earth stands still and that the Sun revolves around it. Galileo himself was a devout Christian and did not mean to question God’s power or the Holy Writ with his work. As a result, to support his claim, he developed three logical arguments in his letter, which he backed with the opinions of leading Christian authorities, in order to prove that science can reinforce religion rather than discredit it.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian philosopher born in 1564. As an adult, he didn’t believe the universal geocentric theory of the planets and heavens which was established by the Catholic Church. The church taught that the Earth was the center of the universe and everything revolved around our planet. Another theory that the Church supported was that the Earth stood still while the sun rose and set every day. Society in the 1500’s believed that the Pope spoke for God through a divine connection and to against the church was to go against God. To speak out against the church in this time was strictly taboo. If one was to speak against the church was considered to be heresy, which is exactly what happened to Galileo. Galileo invented the telescope and began studying the heavens above and noticed that changes within the stars and planets. He noticed that the “stars” that surrounded Jupiter moved. He came to the conclusion through rational thinking, that the Copernicus’ heliocentric theory was correct. Copernicus was a scientist and philosopher whose theory proposed that the sun was stationary and the heavens orbit around the sun. Galileo tried to convince the church not to aboli...
In 1610 he was one of the first people to use the telescope to observe
In the year 1612 controversy arose regarding the heliocentric or Sun-centered universe which Galileo advocated alongside the evidence made by astronomist Nicholas Copernicus. Galileo was aware of the position of the greater population of the people and where they stood in terms of their opinions on this matter. The geocentric system of the universe had been presented and was accepted since the time of Aristotle. The Catholic Church believed the geocentric system to be true because there was literary evidence in Scripture. From 1614 the Roman Catholic Church began to judge Galileo’s discoveries and his proposition of the heliocentric system to be false and nearly heretical. F...
He published a book called Letters on the Sunspots, which explained the problems of the heavens; his argument was that the heavens contained impurities because the sun had dark patches on its surface called sun spots (Famous Scientists 6). Furthermore, he stated that it was better scientifically proven that the earth and all other planets orbited the sun. This was known as the heliocentric view, proposed by Nicholas Copernicus, and was later on accepted as the actual view of the universe. Furthermore, Galileo went so far as to write that the bible had to be remade based on modern science (“Famous Scientists” 7). The Church responded by banning all books published by Copernicus, along with neglecting Galileo. However, Galileo continued on with his publications and was eventually sentenced to life in house arrest. As a result, Galileo had spent eight years of his life in his house. After which, he died, but not before he published his final book of two new sciences. It was called, Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning the Two New Sciences (Famous Scientists 7) and he called the two new sciences the science of material and the science of motion. This book explains Galileo’s scientific findings from his years of experimenting and theorizing. The Catholic Church was not able to stop Galileo’s books from being available in the countries of England, Holland, Germany, Scotland, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. It has been argued that this was the book that caused Isaac Newton to create his laws of motion (Famous Scientists 7). After Galileo’s death, the Catholic Church began to accept Galileo’s work and allowed his books to be published. It wasn’t until 1835 that everything written by Galileo was approved by the
Galileo was one of the first people to use the newly developed telescope to look into the heavens. What he saw there, from stars to features of the Moon, proved to him that the heavens were much more complicated than was realized at the time. A philosopher and a mathematician in the court of the Duke of Tuscany, Galileo presented his findings to the court, gaining favor for his theories with shrewd political skills and persuasive discussion. Despite the fact that Galileo could not prove his Copernican based model of heliocentricity, he banked on the fact that few people would understand enough Ptolemaic mathematics to dispute his claims. Galileo, a naturalist, further proposed that the universe was not a disorganized mess, but rather a place subject to mathematical laws.
Beside this, another invention of Galileo is the pendulum. The invention of pendulum also brought huge scope of research in front of the future scientists. This helped the people to measure the time. This led to the invention of the watch in the future. Before the invention of pendulum, people used to measure time on the basis of the position of the sun. This reduces the pressure of the people and saved time. Galileo also did the experiment on the motion. All these experiments brought revolution in the Europe in particular and the world in general.
improved by Aristotle. But Galileo came up with a new argument named heliocentrism. In a long
Galileo invented a thermometer in 1593, a compass in 1597, a telescope in 1609, a compound microscope in 1609, and the pendulum clock in 1641. Out of all of his accomplishments, Galileo’s most notable achievement was his improvement of the “spyglass”, telescope, in 1609. Galileo set up a telescope on his rooftop in Padua and made some incredible observations. He was able to see the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, sunspots, and the moon’s surface. He issued The Starry Messenger in 1610, Letters on Sunspots in 1613 and was put in the position of Mathematician and philosopher to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1610 the majority of Galil...
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...