The European Mathematical Awakening by Swetz Frank J.;

Author:Swetz, Frank J.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 2013-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

The furore raised against Galileo in connection with the Copernican hypothesis cannot be taken to be the attitude of the Church against the mathematical-physical sciences in general. The pursuit of physical science involved Galileo in controversies with men opposed to his physical views, but this was not a clash over the religious consequences involved in astronomical questions.27

The results of both trials show that the examiners were satisfied that Galileo’s proofs were insufficient to raise the Copernican hypothesis to the level of a scientific truth. With these decisions the calmer judgments of modern scientists must corroborate.

If Galileo had presented his scientific theories without being so arrogant as regards the positiveness of his proofs, and had avoided being drawn into the trap of Scriptural controversy, set up by some of his more wily opponents after the publication in 1613 of his Istoria e Dimostrazioni intorno alle Macchie Solari28 in which he first publicly stated his decided Copernican views, the trial of 1616 would probably never have occurred. And if there had been no directive from the Congregation of the Index, as a result of the 1616 trial, that Copernicus’ book was to be banned until its hypothetical nature was made clearer—which correction was carried out within a short while—the inquiry of 1633 before the Inquisition would have been unnecessary. At the second trial Galileo was accused of breaking his promise of 1616, since any unintelligent person could see that The Two Systems in no way favored the hypothetical nature of the Copernican system, despite the ruse which Galileo used in trying to cover up his real opinions on the subject. That there are reasonable grounds for this assumption may be seen from the attitude of Cardinal Bellarmine who was regarded as anti-Copernican. In a letter written to the Carmelite, Father Foscarini, an advocate of Copernicanism, shortly before the 1616 trial he states:

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