Science and Church Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Science and Church - Essay Example He confronted authority and tradition by putting these theories before those of religion. Aristotlianism was the frame of the Christian Science and so rejecting Aristotle means rejecting Christianity. Because of this Rome rejected Galileo's theories and sentenced him to life imprisonment according to several reasons. About these several reasons like authorities, arguments from common sense, dubitability of telescope, the political consequences of this age and these reasons' unreality and illogicality will be argued in this essay. The end of the 16th and the 17th centuries were featured by the scientific revolution greatly brought about by Galileo Galilei. He supported Democritos's theories in opposition to those of Aristotle who had argued that everything that existed in nature has a purpose. Democrito maintained that the universe and its organisms are formed by atoms in a continuous and arbitrary movement. His philosophy was thus founded on observation and not on finalism as was that of Aristotle: on how, not on why. This was in direct collision with the church which ideally supported the Aristotle's philosophy. Galileo asserted that he had managed to show the theory of Coperni... He also had the insight of not only using the telescope to see the planets, but also to use lenses to examine the tinny things of this world, and told his students to do so. This in essence brought about political consequences where by the inquisition threatened him with torture, forced him to recant, and subjected him to life imprisonment in 1633. The charge was "suspicion of heresy" and was after the church had taken the position that if a Biblical interpretation was found to be in conflict with scientific fact, the Bible was to be interpreted metaphorically. Bible teachings caused the church to oppose Galileo's proof that the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun. Galileo argued that the sun was the centre of the universe which totally differed with common sense as well as the scripture. From common sense perspective, there are only three dimensions in space. All matter in the universe evolves in time, just as explained by Newton. Hence, we can say that the universe is mathematically flat which Galileo proved otherwise. Conclusion The disagreement has been presented tremendously in Galileo's favor. To this date, he is seen as the champion of enlightenment against the blind despotic power of the church. Galileo's "mistake," according to this fascinating study, was not one of science or mathematics, philosophy or religion, but one of diplomacy. Works cited Notes provided by the tutor, a paper by Peter E. Hudgson "Galileo the scientist"