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The idea that Galileo's life was in danger is itself dogma. He put himself into trouble by using the Pope's views in the form of his bot Simplicio, embarrassin
by cromulent 16y ago
The idea that Galileo's life was in danger is itself dogma.
He put himself into trouble by using the Pope's views in the form of his bot Simplicio, embarrassing the Pope. He was in trouble, but not in physical danger.
The irony is that the Church was open to heliocentrism, but demanded more scientific proof before teaching it.
- InclinedPlane 16y agoGalileo was convicted of heresy, placed under house arrest for 9 years (until his death), and his books were banned. He could easily have been placed in prison rather than house arrest, at the whim of the Inquisition, the same Inquisition that executed Bruno 30 years prior and tortured and then imprisoned Campanella for 27 years. The idea that Galileo was never in any danger (assuming that one can write off house arrest as non-dangerous) is patently ridiculous.
- cromulent 16y agoThe point is that he wasn't in danger from challenging the dogma, as you asserted above. That is dogma itself. If he was in danger, it was from embarrassing the pope. He advanced helicentrism long before his heresy trial. The Pope met with him and said that he could write about Copernican theory. He was under house arrest for those years at the house of the Archbishop of Siena. It was a fairly nice life in those times. Galileo and the church got along very well, but they had to do something to save face for the Pope. I don't think it's ridiculous.