His202

Scholastic Unity of Faith and Reason

Action against Galileo became essential when he started making public pronouncements about the theological orthodoxy of his work - but even more inflammatory than that, leaving the astronomy to the astronomers.

'Mathematics will help describe nature using reason'. For Jesuits mathematical astronomy is a valuable practice, it's a valuable reflection of human knowledge - but it's not philosophy.

There is a tension in the rising efficacy of the rising sciences such as Mathematics and Astronomy. They are coming close to philosophy.
Jesuits were trying to establish unity between faith and reason. And trying to find a place for mathematics within liberal arts. From the point of view of the Church any defence of Copernicism, especially as fierce as Galileo's defence, had to be disputed on a science and theological level. And that theological argument took Galileo to court.

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) was the representation of the Church's beliefs: universality of knowledge, faith and reason, orthodox, aristotelian (cosmology), tolemaic (mathematical astronomy), tomistic world view.
According to Bellarmine, Galileo had to be stopped.

The lynx - shows a dedication to observation and to the future pope, Urban the 8th.

Galileo wrote Dialogo in Italian to reach a mass market. It had to be sarcastic, witty, creative, intelligent, to get people to read it.

Sagredo -Galilean student

Salviati - Galileo himself, Copernican philosopher

Simplico - 6th century commentator on Aristotle (hint of the passage, resembles Barbalini's statement to Galileo, that things could be otherwise.) There is a possibility that this character represents the Pope.



Descartes emphasised everything that he would like to perfect with regards to Jesuit education.

Mathematically based, mechanical world view. He's talking about a universe that can be measured and calculated which is very different from Kepler's mystical views.
Descartes establishing a new philosophy based on classical principals to counter scholastic thought.

Gassendi - mid 17th century

Think about Descarte's skills and interests. Use John Henry's mechanical philosophy as a guide. Compare it to Bacon's mechanical philosophy.

So the work that they were doing is very much a part of what was occurring

renaissance humanism, jesuit education, responses to scholasticism.
Is this is a revolution?? Or a re-thinking and re-application of certain classical principals.