Galileo Revisited
Galileo Revisited: The Galileo Affair in Context
Dom Paschal Scotti
Ignatius Press, 2017
312 pp., $18.95
ISBN: 978-1-62164-132-2
Reviewed by William C. Smart
Professor Dom Scotti offers an original and thorough account of what has been universally referred to as the Galileo Affair – that is, the 17th century clash between the astronomer and mathematician Galileo Galilei and the Catholic Church – in his recent work Galileo Revisited: The Galileo Affair in Context. The reader will wonder what possible new review or interpretation could be added to the Galileo literature: Professor Scotti responds by exploring multiple historical influences – including political, theological, cultural, and scientific – and integrating them as backdrops, providing the reader with more comprehensive explanations of the motivations of the dozens of individuals who participated in this drama. Professor Scotti’s intention is not to attempt a recasting of the Galileo affair; multiple volumes, essays, and other scholarly works have examined nearly every aspect of the case. Professor Scotti instead uses over 200 of them as references for his thoroughly researched work, a significant strength of this relatively short book.
Galileo Revisited consists of five chapters (excluding an introduction and conclusion), arranged chronologically, roughly. To begin, the reader is provided brief cultural and political histories of the three Italian regions that influenced Galileo: Tuscany (Pisa and Florence), Veneto (Padua and Venice), and the Papal States (mostly Rome). Scotti does not attempt detailed histories reaching back into antiquity but focuses on events and persons in these regions from the 14th – 17th centuries that would ultimately influence Galileo. The detail is impressive, particularly regarding the Florentine families who played important roles supporting (and ultimately interceding for) Galileo’s scientific endeavors. The reader is reminded of the complex political history of the whole of the Italian peninsula, including the relationships of the various states with Spain and France. The first chapter highlights the scope and depth of Scotti’s elaborate scholarship, especially the identification and description of multiple figures, their complicated familial and political relationships, and their impacts on Galileo throughout his life.
The second chapter introduces Galileo Galilei, his meager upbringing, and the influences of his early education. As will be discussed below, Galileo Revisited is not a biography and consequently the reader should not expect that level of detail regarding the scientist. Galileo’s education was a product of time and place, and Scotti’s focus in this chapter, and spilling over into the third chapter, is on these influences, the lack of consensus concerning approaches to philosophy (including natural philosophy), and the consequent effect these approaches will have on the Queen of the Sciences. The Aristotelian influence on philosophy and natural philosophy was not universally embraced even within orthodox circles, and this some three centuries after Thomas Aquinas was canonized. During the volatile times of Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and increasing scientific progress on the peninsula and elsewhere in Europe, these conflicts did not represent mere academic squabbling. The detail provided by Scotti in these chapters reveals a fascinating philosophical controversy, interesting enough to contemplate if it did not have such disastrous consequences, at least in Galileo’s case.
The academic controversies of this time concerning philosophical approach are more complicated than Plato vs. Aristotle, which serves as merely one layer in the complexities of the Galileo affair. Scotti provides remarkable detail regarding academic political factions, alliances, and challenges, both within the Italian peninsula and without. Additionally, his thorough descriptions of the acrimonious disputes between religious orders, especially between the Dominicans and the Jesuits, as well as disagreements occurring within these two orders, illustrate for the reader a turbulent and theologically uncertain time, the setting for a perfect storm that will foretell the inevitability of Galileo’s fate.
Scotti relates Galileo’s 1611 trip to Rome as a triumphant conquest. During this trip, he met with supporters and academic luminaries of various types – theologians, philosophers and scientists – most of whom were impressed with his observations and especially with his rhetorical skill. During these meetings, he not so quietly advocated Copernicanism and suggested rather strongly that Sacred Scripture actually supports it. Galileo’s incursion into theologians’ territory ultimately did not sit well with the Roman Inquisition and specifically with Cardinal Bellarmine, whom he met during his 1611 visit.
The last two chapters of the book focus on Galileo’s two most important trips to Rome, trips in which he faced the Roman Inquisition. Throughout the book, Scotti supplies the reader with important details concerning the attitudes, activities, and burdens of the various occupants of the Chair of Peter from Galileo’s time and going back for about 100 years. The provision of these details is an indispensable aspect of Scotti’s work, as they unquestionably colored the mindset of Pope Urban VIII. Additionally, the various factions of cardinals and their advisors, their familial and political loyalties, the range of approaches to the Counter-Reformation (the Inquisitions, the Index of Forbidden Books, etc.), and the selfish abuses of power and trust by multiple members of the Church’s hierarchy, including the sitting Pope, are discussed with adequate detail, but are not sarcastically presented and do not convey cynicism or despair to the modern reader. Consequently, Scotti offers the same conclusions reached by most serious scholars regarding the culpability of the Church and its verdict against Galileo. However, he also recognizes Galileo’s hubris as an important contributing factor, and much of the book’s final two chapters focuses on the personal/political maneuverings and reactions around the scientist’s acquaintances and correspondents.
Scotti’s intent for Galileo Revisited is not to reveal some new theory or to state an original conclusion regarding the placement of blame in the Galileo affair. He does not set out to portray the Catholic Church any better (or worse) for its role in the matter, nor does he intend for Galileo to look any better (or worse) than what has already been described by many scholars of the history of science and religion. Scotti aligns his portrayal of both sides of this affair fairly and along the lines of most mainstream scholars: both are to blame, but more so the Church in the person of Pope Urban VIII, as he unmistakably exceeded his authority in this matter.
Instead, Scotti attempts to align and integrate the relatively recent (within the 100 – 200 years preceding Galileo’s trial) cultural, political, and ecclesial influences that played a role leading to Galileo’s fateful trials in 1616 and in 1633. Scotti is certainly successful in this endeavor; the cast of characters and their relationships presented surpassed this reviewer’s expectations, weaving many characters throughout nearly every chapter of the book. The reader is left concluding that the Galileo affair is not as simple as “Bad Church, Good Galileo,” and Scotti’s extensive research, purposeful scholarship and skillful writing require the serious reader to wrestle with a more complicated conclusion.
If there is any criticism of this marvelous book it would be that Scotti assumes many important details of Galileo’s life as given; the reader must already have some familiarity with important aspects of his life, his scientific accomplishments, his writings, and his trials. Additionally, there are events in Western European history, events with significant influence in the matter, such as plagues and war, which the author only briefly mentions without providing much in the way of detail. However, neither is the purpose of Galileo Revisited, and the novice reader is directed to many fine works exploring the affair – several of these are utilized as source material and are listed in the extensive bibliography. This text is not a biography, nor is it a summary of Renaissance history. Instead, as the subtitle implies, the reader is provided perceptive historical details as they specifically relate to the Galileo affair; details of persons, families, religious orders, and ecclesial offices which offer a precise context in which to understand Galileo’s Italy. Viewed from the vantage point of the contemporary reader, such a collusion of historical forces almost requires Galileo’s trials and condemnation.
One important purpose for considering such historical forces is explored in the conclusion of Galileo Revisited: could the Galileo affair happen again? That is, if it is known how political and cultural variables necessarily led to a predictable end in 17th century Italy, can such a history repeat itself if those variables existed today? This is an interesting question, one posed in 1998 by Galileo historian and philosophy professor Richard J. Blackwell.[1] There are several reasons to seriously consider such a possibility, notably the ubiquitous “Faith vs. Science” controversies that continuously smolder, with their usual teams and topics of dispute. It is not this reviewer’s opinion that these controversies will lead to a Galileo-style clash between any Christian religious authority and contemporary practicing scientists; many scientists do not have the regard for religious authority that Galileo had. Instead, Scotti’s work reminds the reader that the Galileo affair is often simplistically viewed (by those not caring to critically examine it) as a closed-minded and authoritarian regime repressing truth and technological progress. If truth is suppressed today, and such suppression forestalls genuine progress in the flourishing of all human persons, there are far more dangerous authorities than the Catholic Church that will claim responsibility. Scotti’s work suggests to its readers that “Those who have ears ought to hear”.
