Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

How simplistic narratives can mislead us: a case study of the Galileo affair

By Patrick Casey - posted Tuesday, 21 December 2021


The Philosophical and Political Axes: A Philosophical Debate and Galileo's Political Blunder

In conjunction with the Church's 1616 ruling, Galileo was admonished by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to abandon heliocentrism, but he was not found guilty of any crimes. Galileo went home and worked on other things, including a treatise on the philosophy of science, The Assayer, published in 1623. That same year, Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, an ardent admirer of Galileo, was elected Pope Urban VIII. Subsequent conversations with Pope Urban left Galileo with the impression that he could publish a book on heliocentrism. However, while we have no record of what was actually said, the permission apparently came with a crucial proviso that Galileo treat the subject only hypothetically, not as if the motion of the Earth had been proved.

In addition to a reasonable desire to keep with the Church's previous ruling, the pope had a fairly sophisticated philosophical justification for his instruction - one that foreshadows what is now called "the underdetermination thesis" in the philosophy of science. The pope argued that whatever evidence Galileo may have had for heliocentrism, it couldn't amount to a demonstration or proof of its physical truth, since it is possible for God to bring about whatever was observed through means other than heliocentrism. At the time, an obvious example would have been Tycho Brahe's geo-heliocentric system, which readily accounted for Galileo's new observational evidence without needing the objectionable hypothesis of a moving Earth.

In taking this position, the pope was standing in a long tradition in natural philosophy that maintained that the job of astronomers was not to determine what the world was physically like but only to provide useful models for predicting the motions of planets. Stated charitably, the pope was instructing Galileo not to go beyond his evidence.

Advertisement

Unfortunately, when Galileo published his Dialogue, he argued adamantly for the physical truth of heliocentrism, "clearly, though not explicitly" (in the words of Peter Machamer and David Marshall Miller), while sometimes making his opponents seem like idiots. To make matters worse, Galileo foolishly put the pope's argument about the difficulty of ascertaining final scientific truth into the mouth of a character called Simplicio, which many have taken to be an insult to the pope. The pope was enraged by Galileo's apparent deceit in defending the physical truth of heliocentrism as an established matter of fact, and Galileo was summoned to Rome to stand trial.

For better or worse, the trial of 1633 was not the site of a renewed debate about the status of heliocentrism. Rather, the trial focused on whether Galileo had violated the Church's instruction not to argue for the physical truth of heliocentrism. In the end, Galileo was forced to recant and sentenced to house arrest at his villa in Florence for the rest of his life.

Conflict or Not?

So, what should we say about the Galileo affair? Is it an instance of conflict between science and religion? It's difficult to render a clear-cut verdict for several reasons.

First, the major players in the drama were Catholics, and several were learned in astronomy; Bellarmine had even lectured on astronomy at the University of Louvain. One might argue that the affair boils down to a disagreement among Catholics about whether the available evidence was strong enough to warrant reinterpreting a few biblical texts that had always been read in light of geocentrism. At the same time, because of the ongoing debate about the purpose of astronomy, some have regarded the Galileo affair as an in-house conflict among natural philosophers about philosophy of science.

Second, there is clearly a political dimension to this story. One must bear in mind that the trial took place just when the Reformation had vastly diminished the power of Rome. As one might expect, the pope would have been sensitive about public slights to his authority.

Third, and most important, even if this were a clear case of conflict, one incident wouldn't by itself justify the grand cultural narrative of inexorable conflict between science and religion. Historians of the era have repeatedly pointed out that the Galileo affair was not representative of the norm.

Advertisement

So why do people persist in seeing the Galileo affair as an instance of straightforward conflict between science and religion? Differences in interpretation of events are often the result of what we bring to the evidence. What we bring with us to our inquiries shapes what we find there. Consequently, if we bring a simplistic narrative of conflict to the evidence, we'll be more likely to latch onto everything that confirms that view while minimizing or ignoring anything that doesn't fit with the narrative.

Understanding complex realities require us to tolerate a kind of cognitive dissonance when we would rather have a satisfying resolution. Learning the history of science and religion is instructive in this respect: It enables one to see that though there is abundant evidence of complexity, many would rather default to the less demanding narrative of conflict. This should alert us to the power of a simplistic narrative to warp our understanding of the world.

Some Takeaways

So, what do we do to encourage nuanced thinking in our students?

First, we should point out to our students how our beliefs and assumptions shape how we understand the world. For example, in discussing the conflict thesis, I will offer examples of historical "myths" and juxtapose them with more comprehensive accounts. Many of my students are still taught that people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat. Comparing this myth with the reality raises the question of why so many people believe something that isn't true. The answer seems to be, in part, that people take the conflict thesis - and the concomitant idea that religious people are intellectually backward - for granted, and this has caused them to be susceptible to misinformation. Educating students to recognize that the beliefs and assumptions we bring to history can shape what we find there empowers them to think critically about simplistic historical narratives.

Second, we should regularly emphasize that history is complicated because life is complicated. As I tell my students (with apologies to the writers of The Princess Bride), "History is complicated. Anyone who says differently is selling something." It is worth calling attention to the fact that people in the past were just as complex and multidimensional as we are. There are frequently a multiplicity of reasons for what we think and a multiplicity of motivations for what we do. Why believe that people in the past would be any different?

Third, students learn from what we model for them at least as much as from what we say. Consequently, we should ensure our narratives convey a substantial amount of nuance - or at least to "flag" when we are simplifying. If all our stories are simplistic and binary (e.g., "science is good and progressive" while "religion is bad and regressive"), we are likely to create people who are unable to understand or cope with the complexity of the real world. We do a disservice to our students - even harm them - when we deny them sophisticated resources for making sense of their own experiences and the broader world.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. Page 2
  4. All

This article was first published by Heterodox Academy.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

3 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Patrick Casey is an assistant professor of philosophy at Holy Family University and a Heterodox Academy Writing Fellow.

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 3 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy