Maurice A. Finocchiaro

Defending Copernicus and Galileo (eBook, PDF)

Critical Reasoning in the Two Affairs

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

Although recent works on Galileo's trial have reached new heights of erudition, documentation, and sophistication, they often exhibit inflated complexities, neglect 400 years of historiography, or make little effort to learn from Galileo. This book strives to avoid such lacunae by judiciously comparing and contrasting the two Galileo affairs, that is, the original controversy over the earth's motion ending with his condemnation by the Inquisition in 1633, and the subsequent controversy over the rightness of that condemnation continuing to our day. The book argues that the Copernican Revolution required that the hypothesis of the earth's motion be not only constructively supported with new reasons and evidence, but also critically defended from numerous old and new objections. This defense in turn required not only the destructive refutation, but also the appreciative understanding of those objections in all their strength. A major Galilean accomplishment was to elaborate such a reasoned, critical, and fair-minded defense of Copernicanism. Galileo's trial can be interpreted as a series of ecclesiastic attempts to stop him from so defending Copernicus. And an essential thread of the subsequent controversy has been the emergence of many arguments claiming that his condemnation was right, as well as defenses of Galileo from such criticisms. The book's particular yet overarching thesis is that today the proper defense of Galileo can and should have the reasoned, critical, and fair-minded character which his own defense of Copernicus had.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Springer Netherlands
• Seitenzahl: 350
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. Januar 2010
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9789048132010
• Artikelnr.: 37411784

Autorenporträt

Maurice Finocchiaro received his undergraduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, majoring in "Humanities and Science," specifically philosophy and physics. He did his graduate work in philosophy at the University of California-Berkeley, specializing in logic and philosophy of science: in logic he adopted an empirical and practical approach that emphasizes argumentation, reasoning, and critical thinking; and in philosophy of science he adopted a historical approach that aims to learn about the nature of science by studying important episodes in the history of science (e.g., the Copernican Revolution) and the work of great scientists (e.g., Galileo). He went on to teach at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, such courses as introductory philosophy, introductory logic, critical thinking, logical theory, history of science, science and religion, and philosophy of science. This teaching experience led him to find excellent material in Galileo: Galileo's scientific achievements for the historical approach to the philosophy of science; Galileo's trial by the Inquisition for the study of science vs. religion; and Galileo's critical argumentation about the earth's motion for the empirical approach to logic. This background and these experiences encouraged and sustained Finocchiaro's scholarship, which received the support of awards from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, and Guggenheim Foundation. His books include Galileo and the Art of Reasoning; Defending Copernicus and Galileo: Critical Reasoning in the Two Affairs; Arguments about Arguments; Meta-argumentation; and On Trial for Reason: Science, Religion, and Culture in the Galileo Affair.

Inhaltsangabe

Defending Copernicus.- The Geostatic World View.- The Copernican Controversy.- Galileo's Stances Toward Copernican Astronomy.- Galilean Critiques of the Biblical Objection.- Galileo on the Mathematical Physics of Terrestrial Extrusion.- Galilean Rationality in the Copernican Revolution.- Defending Galileo.- The Trial of Galileo, 1613-1633.- The Galileo Affair, 1633-1992.- Galileo Right for the Wrong Reasons?.- Galileo as a Bad Theologian?.- Galileo as a Bad Epistemologist?.- Galileo as a Symbol of Science Versus Religion?.

Rezensionen

From the reviews:

"Defending Copernicus and Galileo is an important addition to Maurice Finocchiaro's significant corpus of writings, translations and edited works dealing with Galileo ... . the book is primarily about Galileo and his defense of Copernicus. ... this apparatus of fine distinctions serves not only as an expository device, but also an evaluative or advocacy purpose." (Peter Slezak, Science and Education, Vol. 20, 2011)

"The book is aimed at presenting and defending a tentative interpretation and evaluation of the two Galileo affaires ... . Overall, the book is very well-written, very well-documented, and it consists of very lucid explanations of the many different positions, arguments and criticisms that can and have been put forward during the period of four hundred years in which the two Galileo affairs have developed so far. ... it is a true Fundgrube for further research on the subject ... ." (Jean H. M. Wagemans, Argumentation, Vol. 25, 2011)

"The meritof this work is that it approaches the whole affair by attempting to offer a defense of Galileo by employing the same critical reasoning that Galileo himself used in defending Copernicus. ... it makes an important contribution to the very meaning of science by studying the origins of modern science in Galileo's research techniques. ... It will be very helpful to Galileo scholars." (George V. Coyne, The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 98 (2), April, 2012)