Description:
Galileo's trial over his theories on the Earth's motion ended with his condemnation by the Inquisition. This book judiciously compares and contrasts that trial and the subsequent controversy over the rightness of that condemnation continuing to our day.
Review Quotes:
From the reviews:
"Defending Copernicus and Galileo is an important addition to Maurice Finocchiaro's significant corpus of writings, translations and edited works dealing with Galileo ... . the book is primarily about Galileo and his defense of Copernicus. ... this apparatus of fine distinctions serves not only as an expository device, but also an evaluative or advocacy purpose."--- (Peter Slezak, Science and Education, Vol. 20, 2011)
"The book is aimed at presenting and defending a tentative interpretation and evaluation of the two Galileo affaires ... . Overall, the book is very well-written, very well-documented, and it consists of very lucid explanations of the many different positions, arguments and criticisms that can and have been put forward during the period of four hundred years in which the two Galileo affairs have developed so far. ... it is a true Fundgrube for further research on the subject ... ." (Jean H. M. Wagemans, Argumentation, Vol. 25, 2011)
"The meritof this work is that it approaches the whole affair by attempting to offer a defense of Galileo by employing the same critical reasoning that Galileo himself used in defending Copernicus. ... it makes an important contribution to the very meaning of science by studying the origins of modern science in Galileo's research techniques. ... It will be very helpful to Galileo scholars." (George V. Coyne, The Catholic Historical Review, Vol. 98 (2), April, 2012)