What Pope wanted Galileo to include in his book

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter LalithP
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Book Galileo
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
1 reply · 3K views
LalithP
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Hi,
It is often said one of the conditions Pope Urban III granted Galileo permission to write a book expressing his ideas on the solar system was that Galileo would include a paragraph written by the Pope on God's omnipotence. I have been trying unsuccessfully to locate this in a copy of " Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" I have. Does anybody know what/where it is.
 

Discussion

Astronomy news on Phys.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei

excerpt from the wikipedia article references that simplicio expresses the Pope's views:
Earlier, Pope Urban VIII had personally asked Galileo to give arguments for and against heliocentrism in the book, and to be careful not to advocate heliocentrism. He made another request, that his own views on the matter be included in Galileo's book. Only the latter of those requests was fulfilled by Galileo. Whether unknowingly or deliberately, Simplicio, the defender of the Aristotelian Geocentric view in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was often caught in his own errors and sometimes came across as a fool. Indeed, although Galileo states in the preface of his book that the character is named after a famous Aristotelian philosopher (Simplicius in Latin, Simplicio in Italian), the name "Simplicio" in Italian also has the connotation of "simpleton".[56] This portrayal of Simplicio made Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems appear as an advocacy book: an attack on Aristotelian geocentrism and defence of the Copernican theory. Unfortunately for his relationship with the Pope, Galileo put the words of Urban VIII into the mouth of Simplicio. Most historians agree Galileo did not act out of malice and felt blindsided by the reaction to his book.[57] However, the Pope did not take the suspected public ridicule lightly, nor the Copernican advocacy. Galileo had alienated one of his biggest and most powerful supporters, the Pope, and was called to Rome to defend his writings.[58]

Here's a more detailed reference:

http://web.archive.org/web/20071209...net/rcc/Periodicals/Issues/GalileoAffair.html
 
Last edited: