Fair-mindedness versus sophistry in the Galileo affair

Author(s):  
Maurice Finocchiaro
Keyword(s):  
2008 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Marshall Miller
Keyword(s):  

Metascience ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-245
Author(s):  
Luciano Boschiero

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 489-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rivka Feldhay

The ArgumentThis article confronts an old-new orientation in the historiographical literature on the “Galileo affair.” It argues that a varied group of historians moved by different cultural forces in the last decade of the twentieth century tends to crystallize a consensus about the inevitability of the conflict between Galileo and the Church and its outcome in the trial of 1633. The “neo-conflictualists” — as I call them — have built their case by adhering to and developing the “three dogmas of the Counter-Reformation”: Church authoritarianism is portrayed by them as verging towards “totalitarianism.” A preference for a literal reading of the Scriptures is understood as a mode of “fundamentalism.” And mild skeptical positions in astronomy are read as expressions of “instrumentalism,” or “fictionalism.” The main thrust of the article lies in an attempt to historicize these three aspects of the Catholic reform movement. Finally, the lacunae in insufficiently explored historiographical landscape are delineated in order to tame the temptation to embrace the three dogmas, and to modify the radical conflictualist version of the story of Galileo and the Church.


2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-212
Author(s):  
Ernan McMullin
Keyword(s):  

Isis ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-192
Author(s):  
Maurice A. Finocchiaro
Keyword(s):  

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Beretta

Melchior Inhofer and Galileo's Heresy: Doctrinal Censorship and Intellectual Hierarchy The censures written by the Jesuit Melchior Inchofer about Galileo's works – three of them deal with heliocentrism, one has been recently discovered and is about the atomism of the Saggiatore – played a major part in the Galileo affair. The essay discusses the origins and the importance of these texts for the 1633 trial. More generally, it shows how theological censure was used by the upholders of scholastic aristotelism to hinder the dissemination of alternative forms of natural philosophy. The new philosophical orthodoxy produced by the Roman Inquisition intended to preserve the intellectual hierarchy of Counter-Reformation.


2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (s1) ◽  
pp. 219-237
Author(s):  
rivka feldhay

this article confronts an old-new orientation in the historiographical literature on the “galileo affair.” it argues that a varied group of historians moved by different cultural forces in the last decade of the twentieth century tends to crystallize a consensus about the inevitability of the conflict between galileo and the church and its outcome in the trial of 1633. the “neo-conflictualists” — as i call them — have built their case by adhering to and developing the “three dogmas of the counter-reformation”: church authoritarianism is portrayed by them as verging towards “totalitarianism.” a preference for a literal reading of the scriptures is understood as a mode of “fundamentalism.” and mild skeptical positions in astronomy are read as expressions of “instrumentalism,” or “fictionalism.” the main thrust of the article lies in an attempt to historicize these three aspects of the catholic reform movement. finally, the lacunae in insufficiently explored historiographical landscape are delineated in order to tame the temptation to embrace the three dogmas, and to modify the radical conflictualist version of the story of galileo and the church.


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