Synopses & Reviews
"In the gallery of what might be called the martyrs of thought, the image of Galileo recanting before the Italian Inquisition stirs the minds of educated modern men second only to the picture of Socrates drinking the Hemlock. That image of Galileo is out of focus . . . because it has been distorted by three centuries of rationalist prejudice and clerical polemics. To refocus it clearly, within the logic of its own time . . . de Santillana has written The Crime of Galileo, a masterly intellectual whodunit which traces not the life but the mental footsteps of Galileo on his road to personal tragedy."and#8212;Time
Synopsis
Scientific endeavor and social authority, in one form or another, are characteristics of man's life on his planet that are expected to endure for as long as we can see ahead. In this essay, which aims at analyzing their complex relations, we intend to go at length into the episode which provides, namely, the trial of Galileo and the circumstances that brought it about. But, as we work out the general conditions attendant and dissimilarities occur with the further phase of conflict which is being played out in our time.
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. The Days of Discovery
II. "Domini Canes"
III. Philosophical Intermezzo
IV. Saint Robert Bellarmine
V. The Decree
VI. Bellarmine's Audience
VII. The Years of Silence
VIII. Urban VIII
IX. The "Dialogue"
X. The Summons
XI. The Inquisitors' Plight
XII. The Trial
XIII. The Problem of the False Injunction
XIV. Change of Course
XV. The Sentence
XVI. Aftermath
Index