Galileo Galilei Dbq Essay

The most significant origin of the conflict between religion and science during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was the condemnation of Galileo by the Roman Catholic Church. Since Galileo supported a

During most of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was not easy for scientists to make new discoveries and present them to the world. The Catholic Church, a dominating force during that period, persecuted anyone who would spread ideas and opinions that contradicted what the Bible stated. Both Copernicus and Galileo believed in the heliocentric theory, also called Copernicus theory, which stated that the sun was at the centre of the universe and the earth revolves around it. However, the Catholic Church did not agree with this idea because the Bible stated that the earth was at the centre of the universe and the sun revolved around it, which is the complete opposite. Due to this disagreement, Copernicus and Galileo were threaded by the Catholic Church and

Galileo Galilei was a very influential and controversial astronomer, scientist, mathematician, teacher, and physicist. His life began in the sixteenth century and ended in the seventeenth, in which he penned several books that supported the Copernican theory of a heliocentric solar system. In the words of Drake S. (1957) “... the works of Galileo are well written, and throw light upon the origins of modern science…”(Pg. 2) Although Galileo was soon deemed a heretic by the Roman Catholic church, he continued diligently challenging Aristotelian thought and doctrine and expressing his support of the Copernican theory. As he continued to make discoveries that supported this theory, the church continued to label him as a heretic, and eventually

The Catholic church has performed many acts of injustice in order to retain their power and influence throughout the world. One of the most prominent acts in the world of science was the prosecution of Galileo Galilei. Galileo had become the father of modern science, due to his scientific breakthroughs revolutionizing modern technology. However, Galileo’s supporting argument for the Copernican heliocentric theory of the universe had caught the Church’s attention, and they would go on to accuse Galileo of heresy, forcing him to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. The battle between Galileo and the Holy Office was a long and treacherous one with Galileo being condemned not once, but twice. This led to a

In the midst of this, Cardinal Bellarmine wrote him a letter explaining why his ideas were not going to be accepted. He said: “But to want to affirm that the sun really is fixed in the center of the heavens and only revolves around itself (i.e., turns upon its axis) without traveling from east to west, and that the earth is situated in the third sphere and revolves with great speed around the sun, is a very dangerous thing, not only by irritating all the philosophers and scholastic theologians, but also by injuring our holy faith and rendering the Holy Scriptures false” (Document B). The Cardinal explains how Galileo is contradicting the teachings of the theologists, philosophers, and the Bible. Also, he is doing a dangerous deed because the Church was afraid of these contradicting ideas because they could have destroyed the perspective on the Church and caused a major decrease in power. Galileo contradicting the Church impacted the future by causing more people to begin and question the ways of life, leading to new

In science, theories of some scientists like Galileo and Copernicus were refused and punished because they were opposite the belief of the Catholic

During the time of Galileo, the church was very strict with physicists who believed in the Copernican model. This is exactly the position that Galileo found himself in. In 1600 Galileo began making his own telescope. He became the first person to point one at the night sky. What staggered him the most by doing this was the sheer volume of stars that were not visible with the naked eye. Galileo used his telescope to make many discoveries; one of these is the discovery of Jupiter’s four moons. He even plotted and tracked there rotations around Jupiter. The main thing however, was that Jupiter even had moons, this was proof that the geocentric model was incorrect and that this discovery was in favour of the Copernican model.

There were many who cited portions of scripture such as Joshua 10:13, which states “So the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven” (Joshua 10:13), and Isaiah 40:22, which states “he that stretcheth out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.” (Isaiah 40:22), as pieces of holy evidence to refute and definitely disprove the heliocentric theory as truth. However, Galileo could not easily be written off as a rambling, heretical madman either, seeing as his theories were first proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus, who was “not only a Catholic, but a priest and a canon.” (Galileo, Letter to Christina, 2) Even if Galileo was not a respected member of the Church, Copernicus was, and if his theories had originally been proposed by a Catholic canon, then it was harder to dismiss his ideas as heretical. Additionally, Galileo himself frequently offered to present others with evidence of the truth of his theories, stating “to the leading philosophers of the faculty here…I have offered a thousand times of my own accord to show my studies…” (Galileo, Letter to Kepler).

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

God said that the earth stood still, and Galileo said that the sun stood still. Cardinal Bellarmine knows that what Galileo said goes against the church, and says “Nor may it be answered that this is not a matter of faith... it is on the part of the ones who have spoken. It would be just as heretical to deny that Abraham, had two sons and Jacob twelve, as it would be to deny the virgin birth of Christ, for both are declared by the Holy Ghost through mouths of the prophets and apostles” (Cardinal Bellarmine). This excerpt from Bellarmine’s letter proved that Galileo is a heretic. The Bible is not a matter of faith, it is made up of those who have spoken. This means that the Bible isn’t something that you can choose to believe or not; it is actual words that have been spoken, which contain facts. Because other things stated in the Bible are true, like the virgin birth of Christ, the heliocentric universe must also be true. The Bible is full of spoken words and truths, and what Galileo spoke against those things, in turn making him a

The church wrongfully branded Galileo as a heretic. His contradictory scientific discoveries challenged the doctrine of the church, but was simply a different interpretation of the Bible. In his letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615, Galileo presented strong arguments on why he wasn’t a heretic. “Hence in expounding the Bible if one were always to confine oneself to the unadorned grammatical meaning, one might fall into error.” Galileo argues that simply taking the Bible at face value, and not reading in between the lines, may cause one to misinterpret the meaning of the text.

The apology to Galileo is very significant and it does displays that the church is aligning itself with science but it has a long way to go before more ideas are accepted as well. Finally acknowledging and apologizing to Galileo means the Church is at long last "poised to rectify one of the Church's most infamous wrongs"(1, Cowell) At the time of Galileo’s discoveries Galileo, the Church was also combating the rise of Protestantism. Galileo’s choice to go against the church and to question their interpretation when in 1543 it had been declared that “only the church could interpret the Bible” (Heliocentrism ad the Catholic Church Timeline), had not been wise. Galileo had been charged with heresy due to the “proposition that the sun is in the

While Galileo holds little respect for those who take Aristotle’s theories at face value, he shows no lack of respect for the great philosopher himself. Galileo applauds the fact that Aristotle’s works are examined and closely studied, and “only blame(s) submitting to him in such a way that one blindly subscribes to all his assertions and accepts them as unquestionable dictates” (200). Galileo’s arguments for heliocentrism would convince any layman of their truth, but his opponents are so set in their ways that they would be unwilling to even listen to his concepts. When an opponent relies on ancient words and does not use ration to come to their beliefs, it is impossible to use ration to convince them otherwise. Galileo, in his effort to contest what his opponents consider incontestable,

Galileo’s book “The Dialogue on the Two Great World Systems” is a 1632 book written by Galileo in Italian in which he compares the Copernican system to the Ptolemaic system. In this book, Galileo baldly (some said at the time recklessly) advocated the heliocentric / Copernican world view, contrasting it to the prevailing geocentric / Ptolomeic model. In order to obtain permission to publish, Galileo made a promise to religious authorities (including his supporter Pope Urban VIII) he would present heliocentrism as a hypothetical. The reason Galileo made the promise is because his views contradict passages of the Bible which refer to the earth as stationary and the sun orbiting. After the publication of the book, the Roman Inquisition found

to have people accept his hypothesis, as a fact is one of the major problems