Galileo
Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub
Published: January 1984
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 100
ISBN-13: 9780809014163
Subjects: Biography; Galilei, Galileo,; Italy; 1564-1642; Astronomers
Description: In a startling reinterpretation of the evidence, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's trial and condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church, but by the hostility of contemporary philosophers. Galileo's own beautifully lucid arguments are used to show how his scientific method was utterly divorced from the Aristotelian approach to physics in that it was based on a search not for causes but for laws. Galileo's method was of overwhelming significance for the development of modern physics, and led to a final parting of the ways between science and philosophy. This book is intended for students from sixth-form level upwards studying the history of science/science and philosophy.