Church in The Rise and Fall of an Uneasy Genius by Artigas - Book Report/Review Example

Book Report Galileo in Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Uneasy Genius William R Shea and Mariano Artigas Every one of us in this day and age is fascinated by Galileo’s conflict with the Church and the ecclesiastical authorities, and this book “Galileo in Rome” is a great source to enable us to delve into the events that ultimately brought about the Inquisition. The book seems to be an original endeavor on the part of the authors to illustrate Galileo’s time and its complex environment. The six trips that Galileo made to Rome encompassed his lifetime; from the time he went looking for a job in a university in 1587 to the day when he faced the trial in 1633. It deals with a series of events climaxing into Galileo’s trial by the Tribunal of the Inquisition charging him of heresy. The charge against him was brought regarding his publication, Dialogue of the Two Chief World Systems in 1632. Through this publication Galileo expressed his views on certain fundamental scientific truth. The authors are, William R Shea, who held the chair of History of Science at the University of Padua at the time of writing this book, and Mariano Artigas, Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Navarra. They came by Galileo’s correspondence in the archive, which was the entire source on which this book is based. They actually speak of two Inquisitions, one in 1616 and the other in 1633. The trial is to be seen in the light of that age when science was just in an emerging state and people were not ready to part with the age-old traditional concepts and embrace challenges of scientific hypotheses. Galileo made his first trip to Rome as an unemployed youth in search of a university job. At this time he found favor with the leading Jesuit Mathematician Christopher Clavius, and perhaps met the future Cardinal Robert Bellarmine also who would play a significant role in Galileo’s future. His second trip to Rome was a glorious experience in his lifetime. He was already a famous professor. The celestial bodies observed through the telescope and their subsequent publication made him famous throughout the world of the intelligentsia. The Jesuit astronomers supported his discoveries, and Cardinal Bellarmine felicitated Galileo on his wonderful achievement. Galileo was granted a membership in the prestigious Accademia dei Lincei. Galileo’s third trip to Rome was clouded with antagonism against his active support for Copernicus and his heliocentric theory in his Letters to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany. The work on sunspots aggravated the suspicion. The authors narrate a series of events that sealed Galileo’s fate. The major event was that Galileo failed to prove the truth of Copernicus’s theory. According to Shea and Artigas, “ Had Galileo been able to demonstrate the truth of Copernicanism, all would have been well, but he did not have and was never to have such proof”. This is a vital reason that made the Church reject his theory. We have to take into account what persons even in the highest echelons of the Church had in their mind set. Cardinal Bellarmine in a letter to Antonio Foscarini mentioned “the sun goes down and hastens to his place where he arose etc, were those of Salomon, who not only spoke by divine inspiration but was a man above all others and most learned in the human sciences… His wisdom was from God”. He wrote this in answer to Foscarini’s recent published work in which he argued that the Scripture was a piece of literature to be understood by the common man and thus devoid of scientific language. Shea and Artigas take note that Bellarmine did not consider that biblical statements about the motion of the sun were just an unexamined assumption, but immediately expressed his own theological conviction that there can be no errors in the holy writ. Galileo took a bold stand that perhaps the Bible was not to be interpreted literally. In his Letter to Castelli, he joined for the first time a debate over the relation that existed between theology and science. The Letter reached the Holy Office and was duly examined. Before this, Prince Frederic Cesi had forewarned Galileo against further discussion on Copernicanism. However, his Letter was officially examined, several meetings of the Tribunal of the Inquisition made investigations on Copernicanism. It was officially declared that Copernicus’ theory on Heliocentrism was “false and against the Scriptures”. Copernicus’ book was stopped from further publication until corrections were made. Chapter IV narrates Galileo’s fourth journey to Rome. Berberini was elected to be the next Pope and he took UrbanVIII as his new name. Galileo had high hopes that he would find favor with the new Pope, as Berberini, a fellow Florentine, had appreciated him previously. But then the tide started running against him. His fifth trip to Rome was made in order to publish his book Dialogue. His intention remained unsuccessful because of sudden death of prince Federico Cesi. During this time Galileo tried to convince Pope UrbanVIII to allow him to write his book. His permission came along with a few stipulations. Galileo went back convinced that he could write the book on condition that Galileo’s claim would be that it was written on hypotheses. Let us take into account what Galileo’s Dialogue is. In this book Galileo told the story of two-world system through the voices of his two close friends, Filippo Salviati and Giovanfrancesco Sagredo. Another fictional character was Simplicio, who had neither wit nor intelligence. But Simplicio was also the name of a Greek philosopher, famous for his commentary on Aristotle. In his book he commented on Aristotelian misconception that the earth related Physics could not be applied to heaven. He cited examples of the mountains on the moon. He dealt with Earth’s movement, and the solar system. Then he argued that the Earth turned like all other planets and circled the sun. In the voice of Simplicio, however, he expressed the argument that the Pope had presented to him. Galileo’s adversaries (he had quite a few) brought this to the Pope’s attention. The Pope became angry as he thought that he had been ridiculed. Galileo did not concern himself about any possible consequences of his book as he had prior permission to write this. Father Riccardi had reassured Castelli that Galileo would have no problem publishing his book. . Riccardi at the time did not feel any real threat about Copenicanism. It is to be noted that neither Castelli nor Riccardi knew the true implications of the book. Father Riccardi was neither concerned with Ptolemy nor with Copernicus. But he was perfectly content with the heavenly bodies being moved by angels. Had he warned Galileo in time, he would not have to face charges that he did. Even as the Pope gave Galileo’s Dialogue for examination, the political turmoil within the Church forced the Pontiff to ban a few Spanish rebel priests. Castelli, Galileo’s staunch advocate was exiled. The frail and weak with age Astronomer was summoned to Rome to face charges about what he was not informed at all. Galileo’s fate was sealed by a lot of events that can be read beyond the controversies between religion and science. Pope UrbanVIII, it is said had been pressurized from many quarters. Critics had charged him that he was lenient with the heretics. The Lutherans had been forcing the Catholic Church to impart a more literal interpretation of the Scripture. In April 1633, Galileo was brought to face charges brought against him. Galileo, whom Einstein called the Father of Modern Science, was forced to kneel down and made to say the following words, “My error has been one of vainglorious ambition, pure ignorance and inadvertence”. Works cited: 1.Shea, R William, Artigas, Mariano “The Galileo Affair”, January2006, Facultades de Cincias y Eclesiastica de Filosofia, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain 18April.2008 < http://www.unav.es/cryf/galileoaffair.html > Read More