History and Philosophy of Science

Arguments of Galileo Galilei in support of his astronomical claims

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same

God who has endowed us with sense , reason and

- Galileo

Being one of the most prominent thinkers and astronomers , Galileo Galilei is interesting to us as the one , who went down into history as one of supporters of Copernicanism , the pioneer of experimental scientific method , the reducer of problems to a simple set of terms on the basis of everyday experience and common-sense logic and finally as the one , who used

a refracting telescope in order to make important astronomical discoveries . In the essay I am focusing my attention on the arguments in support of Copernicanism that is widely presented in the Galileo Galilee 's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (1615 . When considering those arguments we are to take into account the specification of that time : Church was the power of knowledge monopoly , had the right to prohibit research in the fields arguing with Bible and possession by scientists primitive research tools

In order to understand arguments we are to understand under what circumstances Galileo Galilei has written this letter . Galilei was known as the supporter of Copernicus heliocentricity , which is the view that sun is the center and Earth is revolving around the Sun . Outcomes of Galileo research were new to the public . By the year of 1615 , he did his observations of stars with the help of self-made telescope . After careful investigation of the planets , he drew the Moon 's phases as seen through the telescope , showed that the Moon 's surface is not smooth , but is uneven discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter and many more stars which are invisible with naked eye . Based on this discoveries he developed his philosophical views and therefore questioned some passages in Bible . Because his conclusions made him one of the followers of Copernicanism , his thoughts were distinguished among the others and were revolutionary for those times

Main arguments , which Galilei used for the support of copernicanism were based first of all on the novelty of investigation . He is certain that increase of known truths stimulates the investigation establishment , and growth of the arts not their diminution or destruction . As to me , this argument is very important as it widening the research limits and stimulates the world progress . This argument could also be found in his work as a theme , penetrating the text in different variations

All his arguments are presented in a structured way and are logically connected . Because existed close relation between science and Church heresy and its denial are the next leading argument in Galileo 's work He is focusing on interpretation of some passages from Bible which are differently applied by theologians . In the Bible it is said "And the sun stood still , and the moon stayed (Josh . 10 :13 ) Galileo is convinced that main mistake of heresy and misunderstanding of Copernicus ideas is in applicability of some Bible passages to the needs...