Talk:Galileo affair

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is part of the History of Science WikiProject, an attempt to improve and organize the history of science content on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. You can also help with the History of Science Collaboration of the Month.
???	This article has not yet been assigned a rating on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet been assigned a rating on the importance scale.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Catholicism, which collaborates on articles related to the Roman Catholic Church. To participate, edit this article or visit the project page for details.
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the Project's quality scale.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the Project's importance scale.

Over at Galileo Galilei there was talk a long time ago about splitting out the section called Church Controversy and rewriting the whole story as a separate article. The section has long been too big (putting the article as a whole over the recommended max size) and too sprawling and self-contradictory. In spite of its already large size, fair coverage of the many controversies inevitably causes the section to get longer, even if handled well. But no one ever had the time to do the rewrite.

Now that that section has been hit with a demand for cleanup, we really ought to undertake the job. For a basis, I have copied the whole section, as it stands, as the text of this article. This is not because the article ought to stay in its present form, but to get the old text into a convenient place in the History.

Then I'll change the section in the Galileo article to a brief summary, with a pointer to this as the Main Article. More on that in the the Galileo talk page.

Then I'm going to blank out the text of this Trial article and turn it into a stub, from which the new article can be written. It would be futile to try to make a good text just by patching the old one, which needs massive reorganization; but we'll have all the pieces of the old version from which to crib as needed. Parts of it are very good.

The old Church Controversy text is also being copied below as part of the talk page, as this might be more accessible than going back into the History page to find old text. Dandrake 23:45, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Dandrake, this is a very impressive, NPOV and accurate article with repect to this controversy. WRT names, how about something like Galileo: the conflict with Rome ot Galileo's Conflict with Rome (or The Church or The Inquisition, etc..) The point is to get trial out of there as it is too resticted and expand it a broader concept like conflict or confrontation or something along those lines.--Lacatosias 08:58, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Usually the whole church controversy topic is known as the "Galileo Affair". It's actually the name of several books, but I think it predates the books that use that as the title; I think the commonness of the term outweighs the partisanness of it, since people have written about it using that term from a wide variety of views.--ragesoss 14:41, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

n fact, the new brief text from the main Galileo article has been pasted in, forming a rough outline. Let's replace this rapidly with a well-organized text (in which it will be impossible to recognize this first hack).

As to this article's name: it's not really accurate, as this covers far more than the trial of 1633. It is very hard to find a descriptive and neutral name. "The Galileo Affair" could be one, but it's not, being the title of a book, and a partisan one. "Galileo--For Copernicus and the Church" appeals to me, but that one is also taken. As is "The Crime of Galileo". "Galileo, heliocentrism, and the Church" would be descriptive, but it sounds pompous.

Any better ideas? Please? Dandrake 01:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

Contents 1 Church controversy 2 Discussion of original text 3 First notes on the rewrite 4 Church (Pope) Apologises for Galileo Trial 5 Koestler'sbook

[edit] Church controversy

This is the former text, complete:
Galileo was a practicing Catholic, yet his writings on Copernican heliocentrism disturbed some in the Roman Catholic Church who believed in a geocentric model of the solar system. They argued that heliocentrism was in direct contradiction of the Bible (Joshua (10:12)): "Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, 'Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon'." This Bible passage could be literally interpreted as the Sun and the Moon were both objects peripheral-to or a subset-of Earth, as opposed to a more symbolic, metaphysical interpretation (e.g., their representing a highly illuminated state of consciousness (the Sun founded upon Gibeon) and a phase of lower reflected intellect (the Moon in the valley of Ajalon) or thought). At that time the most literal Biblical interpretation was prevalent with the church hierarchy, especially among the Dominican Order, facilitators of the Inquisition; it was also in line with the highly revered ancient writings of Aristotle and Plato.

The geocentric model was generally accepted at the time, as it had been since philosophers first considered the heavens. By the time of the controversy, the Ptolemaic model had a serious rival in the Tychonian model in which the Earth was at the center of the Universe, the Sun revolved around the Earth and the other planets revolved around the Sun. This model is geometrically equivalent to the Copernican model and agreed with observations in that it predicted no parallax of the stars, an effect that was impossible to detect with the instruments of the time. In the view of Tycho and many others, this model explained the observable data of the time better than the geocentric model did. (That inference is valid, however, only on the assumption that no very small effect had been missed: that the instruments of the time were absolutely perfect, or that the Universe could not be much larger than was generally believed at the time. As to the latter, belief in the large, possibly infinite, size of the Universe was part of the heretical beliefs for which Giordano Bruno had been burned at the stake in 1600.)

An understanding of the controversies, if it is even possible, requires attention not only to the politics of religious organizations but to those of academic philosophy. Before Galileo had trouble with the Jesuits and before the Dominican friar Caccini denounced him from the pulpit, his employer heard him accused of contradicting Scripture by a professor of philosophy, Cosimo Boscaglia, who was neither a theologian nor a priest. Galileo was defended on the spot by a Benedictine abbot, Benedetto Castelli, who was also a professor of mathematics and a former student of Galileo's. It was this exchange, reported to Galileo by Castelli, that led Galileo to write the Letter to Grand Duchess Christina. (Castelli remained Galileo's friend, visiting him at Arcetri near the end of Galileo's life, after months of effort to get permission from the Inquisition to do so.)

There is evidence of an organized and secretive opposition to Galileo among some academic philosophers. This included professors against whom Galileo, who was not officially a philosopher at all, had successfully argued for the theory of buoyancy developed by Archimedes, as against that of Aristotle, which had been taught in the academies. Moreover, the new telescopic discoveries in astronomy were, even without arguments on heliocentrism, upsetting the established comprehensive theory of the heavens, again due to Aristotle. The Jesuit astronomers, after a period of disbelief when good telescopes were almost unobtainable, had soon enough agreed on the validity of Galileo's discoveries; by contrast, some professors of the secular academic world refused for a time to look through the telescope. Caccini's attack, if not actually inspired by the philosophers, was welcomed by them and had their support.

However, real power lay with the Church, and Galileo's arguments were most fiercely fought on the religious level. The late nineteenth and early twentieth century historian Andrew Dickson White wrote from an anti-clerical perspective:

The war became more and more bitter. The Dominican Father Caccini preached a sermon from the text, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?" and this wretched pun upon the great astronomer's name ushered in sharper weapons; for, before Caccini ended, he insisted that "geometry is of the devil," and that "mathematicians should be banished as the authors of all heresies." The Church authorities gave Caccini promotion.

Father Lorini proved that Galileo's doctrine was not only heretical but "atheistic," and besought the Inquisition to intervene. The Bishop of Fiesole screamed in rage against the Copernican system, publicly insulted Galileo, and denounced him to the Grand-Duke. The Archbishop of Pisa secretly sought to entrap Galileo and deliver him to the Inquisition at Rome. The Archbishop of Florence solemnly condemned the new doctrines as unscriptural; and Paul V, while petting Galileo, and inviting him as the greatest astronomer of the world to visit Rome, was secretly moving the Archbishop of Pisa to pick up evidence against the astronomer.

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, one of the most respected Catholic theologians of the time, was called on to adjudicate the dispute between Galileo and his opponents, including both religious zealots and secular university professors. The appointment shows the world view that prevailed before the Scientific Revolution: a leading theologian was assigned to tell scholars what views they were allowed to "hold or defend" concerning the workings of the physical world.

Bellarmine insisted that Galileo furnish more adequate proof of his new theories before he would be allowed to teach them as true or even as probably true. Until such proof was forthcoming, the ideas should only be taught as hypotheses, in the old sense of the word: that is, as calculating tricks that were not to be considered as in any way real.

This put Galileo in a difficult position, as he had no conclusive proof for his position. In fact, his theories had gaps and errors, as is (we now know) the usual condition of radically new scientific work. The real meaning of the requirement for better proof became clear in the 1630s, when Galileo was condemned by the Inquisition because of his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. That book contained what Galileo considered to be a physical proof of the Earth's motion, based on the tides; had it been correct (which it was not), it would have satisfied Bellarmine's requirement. In the event, the Inquisition did not even consider whether the argument was right or wrong. It condemned Galileo simply for publishing, ignoring Bellarmine's reasoning.

While many in the Church supported Galileo, the charges brought by the priests who had been goaded to act against him were serious. These men asserted that dreadful consequences must result to Christian theology were the heavenly bodies proved to revolve about the Sun and not about the Earth. Their most tremendous dogmatic engine was the statement that "his pretended discovery vitiates the whole Christian plan of salvation." Father Lecazre declared, "It casts suspicion on the doctrine of the incarnation." Others declared, "It upsets the whole basis of theology. If the Earth is a planet, and only one among several planets, it can not be that any such great things have been done specially for it as the Christian doctrine teaches. If there are other planets, since God makes nothing in vain, they must be inhabited; but how can their inhabitants be descended from Adam and Eve? How can they trace back their origin to Noah's ark? How can they have been redeemed by the Saviour?" Nor was this argument confined to the theologians of the Roman Church; Melanchthon, Protestant as he was, had already used it in his attacks on Copernicus and his school. (White, 1898; online text)

In 1616, the Inquisition warned Galileo not to hold or defend the hypothesis asserted in Copernicus's On the Revolutions, though it has been debated whether he was admonished not to "teach in any way" the heliocentric theory. Copernicus's book was not condemned, rather, it was just held pending the correction of a few sentences. When Galileo was tried in 1633, the Inquisition was proceeding on the premise that he had been ordered not to teach it at all, based on a paper in the records from 1616; but Galileo produced a letter from Cardinal Bellarmine that showed only the "hold or defend" order. The latter is in Bellarmine's own hand and of unquestioned authenticity; the former is an unsigned copy, violating the Inquisition's own rule that the record of such an admonition had to be signed by all parties and notarized. Leaving aside technical rules of evidence, what can one conclude as to the real events? There are two schools of thought. According to Stillman Drake, the order not to teach was delivered unofficially and improperly; Bellarmine would not allow a formal record to be made, and assured Galileo in writing that the only order in effect was not to "defend or hold". According to Giorgio di Santillana, however, the unsigned minute was simply a fabrication by the Inquisition.

In 1623 Pope Gregory XV died, and Galileo's close friend Maffeo Barberini became Pope Urban VIII. The new Pope gave Galileo vague permission to ignore the ban and write a book about his opinions, so long as he did not openly support his theory. Galileo consented, and set to work writing his masterpiece, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (often called simply the Dialogue). It involved an argument between two intellectuals, one geocentric, the other heliocentric, and a layman, neutral but interested. Although it presented the Church's point of view, the geocentrist was depicted foolishly, while the heliocentrist often dominated the argument and convinced the neutral member in the end.

The Dialogue was published in 1632 with the approval of Catholic censors. It was applauded by intellectuals but nevertheless aroused the Church's ire. Despite his continued insistence that his work in the area was purely theoretical, despite his strict following of the church protocol for publication of works (which required prior examination by church censors and subsequent permission), and despite his former friendship with the Pope (who presided throughout the ordeal), Galileo was summoned to trial before the Roman Inquisition in 1633.

The Inquisition had rejected earlier pleas by Galileo to postpone or relocate the trial because of his ill health. At a meeting presided by Pope Urban VIII, the Inquisition decided to notify Galileo that he either had to come to Rome or that he would be arrested and brought there in chains. Galileo arrived in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition on February 13, 1633. After two weeks in quarantine, Galileo was detained at the comfortable residence of the Tuscan ambassador, as a favor to the influential Grand Duke Ferdinand II de' Medici. When the ambassador reported Galileo's arrival and asked how long the proceedings would be, the Pope replied that the Holy Office proceeded slowly, and was still in the process of preparing for the formal proceedings. In the event, having responded to the urgent demands of the Inquisition that he must report to Rome immediately, Galileo was left to wait for two months before proceedings would begin.

On April 12, 1633, Galileo was brought to trial, and the formal interrogation by the Inquisition began. During this interrogation Galileo stated that he did not defend the Copernican theory, and cited a letter of Cardinal Bellarmine from 1615 to support this contention. The Inquisition questioned him on whether he had been ordered in 1616 not to teach Copernican ideas in any way (see above); he denied remembering any such order, and produced a letter from Bellarmine saying only that he was not to hold or defend those doctrines.

He was then detained for eighteen days in a room in the offices of the Inquisition (not in a dungeon cell). During this time the Commissary General of the Inquisition, Vincenzo (later Cardinal) Maculano, visited him for what amounted to plea bargaining, persuading Galileo to confess to having gone too far in writing the book. In a second hearing on April 30, Galileo confessed to having erred in the writing of the book, through vain ambition, ignorance, and inadvertence. He was then allowed to return to the home of the Tuscan ambassador. On May 10, he submitted his written defense, in which he defended himself against the charge of disobeying the Church's order, confessed to having erred through pride in writing the book, and asked for mercy in light of his age and ill health.

A month later (June 21), by order of the Pope, he was given an examination of intention, a formal process that involved showing the accused the instruments of torture. At this proceeding, he said, "I am here to obey, and have not held this [Copernican] opinion after the determination made, as I said."

On June 22, 1633, the Inquisition held the final hearing on Galileo, who was then 69 years old and pleaded for mercy, pointing to his "regrettable state of physical unwellness". Galileo was forced at this time to "abjure, curse and detest" his work and to promise to denounce others who held his prior viewpoint. Galileo did everything the church requested him to do, following (insofar as there is any evidence) the plea bargain of two months earlier; nonetheless, he was convicted of "grave suspicion of heresy" and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Although ten Cardinal Inquisitors had heard the case, the sentence delivered on June 22 bears the signature of only seven; one of the three missing was Cardinal Barberini, the Pope's nephew. It is generally held that this indicates a refusal to endorse the sentence. The seven who signed, however, were those who were present at that day's proceedings; Cardinals Barberini and Borgia in particular, were attending an audience with the Pope on that day. Analysis of the Inquisition's records has shown that the presence of only seven of ten Cardinals was not exceptional; hence the inference that Barberini was protesting the decision may be doubted.

That the threat of torture and death Galileo was facing was a real one is widely, though not universally, accepted. Many point to the earlier Inquisitional trial against Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake in 1600 ostensibly for holding a naturalistic view of the Universe. However, Bruno denied the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the immortality of the soul, among other heresies. He partially recanted his heretical beliefs during the investigation of his works, but returned to them before the investigation was completed. Heretics were never burned unless they recanted and subsequently returned to their heresies. Galileo was never convicted of heresy; even in the second trial, he was only "vehemently suspected of heresy".

It is often held that he was punished at the second trial for having disobeyed what was believed to be a valid injunction not to discuss Copernicanism. The formal decision of the court, however, makes no mention of such an order, condemning him only for the Copernican teachings. Moreover, in order to believe that there was such an injunction, one would have had to deny the word of a Cardinal (now a Saint) of the Church. In any case, such disobedience was not punishable by death. Thus, there is no substantial correspondence between Galileo's case and Bruno's. Whether such fine legal distinctions entered into Galileo's assessment of the dangers that faced him while the Inquisition was threatening him with torture and death is, of course, beyond the scope of this article.

The tale that Galileo, rising from his knees after recanting, said "E pur si muove!" (But it does move!) cannot be accepted as true: the penalty for going back on a confession before the Inquisition was to be burned at the stake (famously, in the case of Giordano Bruno and Jacques de Molay), and such a defiance would have been a ticket to follow Bruno to the stake. But the widespread belief that the whole incident is an 18th century invention is also false. (Drake, 1978, pp. 356–357). A Spanish painting, dated 1643 or possibly 1645, shows Galileo writing the phrase on the wall of a dungeon cell. Here we have a second version of the story, which also cannot be true, because Galileo was never imprisoned in a dungeon; but the painting shows that some story of "E pur si muove" was circulating in Galileo's time. In the months immediately after his condemnation, Galileo resided with Archbishop Ascanio Piccolomini of Siena, a learned man and a sympathetic host; the fact that Piccolomini's brother was a military attaché in Madrid, where the painting was made some years later, suggests that Galileo may have made the remark to the Archbishop, who then wrote to his family concerning the event, which later became garbled in re-telling.

Galileo was sentenced to prison, but because of his advanced age (and/or Church politics) the sentence was commuted to house arrest at his villas in Arcetri and Florence ¹. Because of a painful hernia, he requested permission to consult physicians in Florence, which was denied by Rome, which warned that further such requests would lead to imprisonment. Under arrest, he was forced to recite penitentiary psalms regularly, but his daughter, who was a nun at a nearby convent, successfully petitioned Rome to be allowed to say the psalms in his place. He was not supposed to have house guests, but this rule was not always strictly enforced. He was allowed to continue his less controversial research. During his confinement at home, Galilei managed to write an important book on his discoveries in physics (not related to the astronomical controversies), the "Discorsi e Dimostrazioni Matematiche, intorno á due nuoue scienze" or Two New Sciences.

Publication was another matter. His Dialogue had been put on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the official black list of banned books, where it stayed until 1822 (Hellman, 1998). The banning of specific works was not an uncommon occurrence or one necessarily involving other dire consequences; Bellarmine himself had at one time been threatened with having his own work placed on the index. Nor, of course, did the ban inhibit Protestants and others; it meant only that Roman Catholics would not be able (without special permission) to know what Galileo had written. However, the prohibition did not stop at the one book. Though the sentence announced against Galileo mentioned no other works, Galileo found out two years later that publication of anything he might ever write had been quietly banned. The ban was effective in France, Poland, and German states, but not in the Netherlands. When the time came to publish the new book, Galileo had it smuggled out to Leiden, where it was published in 1638.

Placed under house-arrest, Galileo would, in 1638, be allowed to move to his home near Florence. Though by then totally blind, he continued to teach and write. After more than 8 years under arrest, he died at his villa in Arcetri, just north of Florence, in 1642.

According to Andrew Dickson White, in A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (III.iii), 1896, Galileo's experiences demonstrate a classic case of a scholar forced to recant a scientific insight because it offended powerful, conservative forces in society: for the church at the time, it was not the scientific method that should be used to find truth — especially in certain areas — but the doctrine as interpreted and defined by church scholars, and White documented how this doctrine was defended by the Church with torture, execution, deprivation of freedom, and censorship. In a less polemical frame, this has remained the mainstream view among the historians of science. However, some feel this elides the underlying complexity of the trials and their context within Church and secular academic politics, as well as the weaknesses of some of Galileo's specific arguments, in light of the imprecise observations available at the time.

The viewpoints of White and similar-minded colleagues were never accepted by the Catholic community, partially because White's final analysis depicted Christianity as a destructive force. A fierce expression of this critical attitude can also be seen in Bertolt Brecht's play about Galileo, a source for popular ideas about the scientist. This is, of course, unfortunate. Brecht, a Marxist, was not interested in hewing to the historical facts so much as he was in making a case against theism and for atheism. Moreover, deeper examination of the primary sources for Galileo and his trial shows that claims of deprivation were likely exaggerated. Dava Sobel's biography Galileo's Daughter offers a different set of insights into Galileo and his world, in large part through the private correspondence of Maria Celeste, the daughter of the title, and her father.

On March 15, 1990 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict XVI, said in a speech in Parma: "At the time of Galileo the Church remained much more faithful to reason than Galileo himself. The process against Galileo was reasonable and just."

In 1992, 359 years after the Galileo trial and 350 years after his death, Pope John Paul II established a commission that ultimately issued an apology, lifting the edict of Inquisition against Galileo: "Galileo sensed in his scientific research the presence of the Creator who, stirring in the depths of his spirit, stimulated him, anticipating and assisting his intuitions." After the release of this report, the Pope said further that "... Galileo, a sincere believer, showed himself to be more perceptive in this regard [the relation of scientific and Biblical truths] than the theologians who opposed him."

[edit] Discussion of original text

There is much in here that should be incorporated into the main entry but hasn't. Is this a question of a subtle bias in favor of the Church perhaps??--Lacatosias 10:10, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Some of the biases in this article aren't just subtle, and there is a fair amount of disinformation; very few historians of science would agree with White's take on the Galileo Affair, as it's pretty much been proven wrong, as much as you can prove a general historical claim. But some of it is worth saving.--ragesoss 14:50, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

No, I wasn't referring to the sections on White. I was more interested in several claims that are in this version (not attributed to anyone) but are not in the other. E.g.:

"A month later (June 21), by order of the Pope, he was given an examination of intention, a formal process that involved showing the accused the instruments of torture. At this proceeding, he said, "I am here to obey, and have not held this [Copernican] opinion after the determination made, as I said."

and several others. As I am not going to go around chasing down the sources for these myself, my point was just to call attention to the fact that this version has some interesting and possibly usefel info that belongs in the article if it is true. If it's not verifiable, that's another matter. --Lacatosias 16:49, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

I was just giving an example, and kinda writing in a hurry... sorry about that. The only point I was really trying to make was that, as you recognize, there is some valuable material, it just all needs to be checked carefully before being added.--ragesoss 17:47, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] First notes on the rewrite

This text is painfully light on references. On an issue of such historical sensitivity (it is used as an "I told you so" argument by both sides) we HAVE to reference what we say. My texts differ with this article even on such simple things as dates, where did this information come from? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 60.241.102.137 (talk • contribs) 12 April 2006.

Very poorly refernced indeed. Compare with this article Katyn Forest. But your are free to edit the article and add any authoritiave verifiable references you think best. You'd be quite skocked at the the lack of references on Wikipedia. Iìm not an expert on this topic myself and don't have access to a library. Also, you should aslo ralize that the people who originally wrote this entry may not even be contributors to Wikipedea anymore. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.--Lacatosias 08:19, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Church (Pope) Apologises for Galileo Trial

I think this should be mentioned as one of the last paragraphs in this article. A quick search on the internet (http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,230447,00.html) mentioned that the Pope had apologised for the trial. The article is originated in 2000, but the section seems to indicate that this happened further in the past (I can only vaguely recall when this happened. Mid 1990s???). So, what I'm saying is that something like this should be mentioned here if someone has got more facts than I have can you please put this in? Thanks. Further reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II#Apologies it states that this happened 31 October 1992, unfortunately this doesn't have a reference. Demerzel 16:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

It did indeed happen in 1992 - my astronomy book mentioned that the Roman Catholic church pardoned Galileo in 1992. Aerothorn 19:01, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

here (in italian) http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1992/october/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19921031_accademia-scienze_it.html

The article wrongly indicates 1992 as the year in which the Pope "established a commission". The commission was established on July 3, 1981Luca priorelli 01:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Koestler'sbook

Has anyone read Arthur Koestler's book "The Sleepwalkers?" I've heard there is an excellent section on the Galilean affair —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.181.209.20 (talk) 08:00, 12 February 2007 (UTC).