DEfENdiNG COpERNicUS ANd GALiLEO BOSTON STUdiES iN THE PHiLOSOpHY Of SciENcE Editors ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University JÜRGEN RENN, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science KOSTAS GAVROGLU, University of Athens Editorial Advisory Board THOMAS F. GLICK, Boston University ADOLF GRÜNBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYLVAN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. STACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY†, (Editor 1960–1997) vOLUmE 280 DEfENdiNG COpERNicUS ANd GALiLEO Critical Reasoning in the Two Affairs Maurice A. Finocchiaro University of Nevada, Las Vegas Maurice A. Finocchiaro University of Nevada, Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV USA [email protected] ISBN 978-90-481-3200-3 e-ISBN 978-90-481-3201-0 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3201-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009931215 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents Preface and Acknowledgments....................................................................... ix Introduction: A Galilean Approach to the Galileo Affair............................. xiii Part I Defending Copernicus....................................................................... 1 1 The Geostatic World View......................................................................... 3 1.1 Terminology........................................................................................ 3 1.2 Cosmology.......................................................................................... 4 1.3 Physics................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Astronomy........................................................................................... 12 2 The Copernican Controversy.................................................................... 21 2.1 Copernicus’s Innovation..................................................................... 21 2.2 The Anti-Copernican Arguments........................................................ 24 2.3 Responses to Copernicanism.............................................................. 34 3 Galileo’s Stances Toward Copernican Astronomy.................................. 37 3.1 Historical Testing of Methodological Models.................................... 37 3.2 Conceptual Clarifications.................................................................... 38 3.3 Historiographical Considerations........................................................ 43 3.4 Periodization....................................................................................... 45 3.5 Indirect Pursuit (Before 1609)............................................................ 46 3.6 Full-Fledged Pursuit (1609–1616)...................................................... 51 3.7 The Post-1616 Period.......................................................................... 61 3.8 Conclusion.......................................................................................... 63 4 Galilean Critiques of the Biblical Objection........................................... 65 4.1 Preliminary Considerations................................................................. 65 4.2 Copernicanism and Scripture.............................................................. 69 v vi Contents 4.3 Ingoli................................................................................................. 72 4.4 Foscarini............................................................................................ 76 4.5 Galileo............................................................................................... 79 4.6 Campanella....................................................................................... 89 4.7 Conclusion........................................................................................ 93 5 Galileo on the Mathematical Physics of Terrestrial Extrusion.............. 97 5.1 Introduction....................................................................................... 97 5.2 The Extruding Power of Whirling..................................................... 99 5.3 Restatement of the Anti-Copernican Argument................................. 101 5.4 Tangential Extrusion Versus Secant Fall........................................... 102 5.5 Linear Versus Angular Speed............................................................ 103 5.6 Physical Processes Versus Mathematical Entities............................. 105 5.7 Escape Extrusion Versus Orbital Extrusion....................................... 106 5.8 Exsecants Versus Tangents, or Achilles and the Tortoise.................. 108 5.9 Distance Fallen, Distance To Be Fallen, and Speeds of Fall............. 112 5.10 Exsecants Versus Exsecants............................................................... 113 5.11 A Definition of Physical–Mathematical Reasoning.......................... 114 5.12 Galileo’s Reflections on Physical–Mathematical Reasoning............ 115 6 Galilean Rationality in the Copernican Revolution................................ 121 6.1 The Copernican Revolution and the Role of Criticism..................... 121 6.2 Copernicus and Explanatory Coherence........................................... 123 6.3 Physics and Reasoning...................................................................... 124 6.4 The Telescope and the Role of Judgment.......................................... 129 6.5 Critical Reasoning............................................................................. 132 Part II Defending Galileo............................................................................. 135 7 The Trial of Galileo, 1613–1633................................................................ 137 7.1 The Earlier Proceedings and the Condemnation of Copernicanism.............................................................................. 138 7.2 The Later Proceedings and the Condemnation of Galileo................. 143 8 The Galileo Affair, 1633–1992................................................................... 155 8.1 The Condemnation of Galileo (1633)................................................ 156 8.2 Diffusion of the News (1633–1651).................................................. 161 8.3 Emblematic Reactions (1633–1642)................................................. 163 8.4 Polarizations (1633–1661)................................................................. 166 8.5 Compromises (1654–1704)............................................................... 171 8.6 Myth-making or Enlightenment? (1709–1777)................................. 175 8.7 Incompetence or Enlightenment? (1740–1758)................................ 179 Contents vii 8.8 New Criticism (1770–1797)........................................................... 185 8.9 Napoleonic Wars and Trials (1810–1821)...................................... 188 8.10 The Settele Affair (1820)................................................................ 190 8.11 The Torture Question and the Demythologizing Approach (1835–1867)................................................................... 195 8.12 The Documentation of Impropriety (1867–1879).......................... 198 8.13 Theological Developments (1893–1912)........................................ 203 8.14 Tricentennial Rehabilitation (1941–1947)...................................... 207 8.15 Secular Indictments (1947–1959)................................................... 211 8.16 The Paschini Affair (1941–1979)................................................... 216 8.17 John Paul II’s Rehabilitation (1979–1992)..................................... 220 9 Galileo Right for the Wrong Reasons?................................................... 229 9.1 The Problem.................................................................................... 229 9.2 The Dialogue and Its Critics........................................................... 235 9.3 The Letter to Christina and Its Critics............................................ 243 9.4 Conclusion...................................................................................... 248 10 Galileo as a Bad Theologian?.................................................................. 251 10.1 Relative Calm (1633–1784)............................................................ 252 10.2 Mallet du Pan’s Thesis (1784)........................................................ 254 10.3 Text of an Apocryphal Letter (1785).............................................. 256 10.4 Gaetani’s Forgery............................................................................ 258 10.5 Diffusion and Development of a Myth (1790–1908)..................... 260 10.6 Metamorphosis of the Myth (1909–1959)...................................... 273 10.7 Demise of the Myth (1979–1992)................................................... 274 10.8 Conclusion...................................................................................... 275 11 Galileo as a Bad Epistemologist?...........................................................
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