Authenticity vs. Accuracy vs. Legitimacy: Pagano on the Vatican Documents
Document Type
Book Section
Publication Date
8-29-2021
Publication Title
Science, Method, and Argument in Galileo
Publisher
Springer, Cham
Publisher Location
Cham, Switzerland
Volume
40
First page number:
337
Last page number:
353
Abstract
This essay is a critical appreciation of the scholarly work on Galileo’s trial by Mons. Sergio Pagano (Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives since 2007). Pagano has argued convincingly that the 1616 precept to Galileo by Inquisition commissary Seghizzi is authentic and not a forgery. This is an important accomplishment because it settles a controversy that has raged since the 1860’s, with wide-ranging cultural repercussions. However, the precept’s documentary authenticity does not prove its factual accuracy, nor its juridical legitimacy. Indeed, it can be shown that the precept was illegitimate, because it contradicts Pope Paul V’s orders and cardinal-inquisitor Robert Bellarmine’s testimony. Pagano apparently conflates, and equivocates among, these three concepts, as well as among the contents of four distinct orders to Galileo regarding Copernicanism: Pope Paul’s orders not to believe and not to discuss, Bellarmine’s warning not to hold or defend as true or as biblically compatible, and Seghizzi’s precept not to hold or teach in any way.
Controlled Subject
Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642; Inquisition; Logic; Reasoning
Disciplines
Philosophy | Philosophy of Science
Language
English
Rights
IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Repository Citation
Finocchiaro, M. A.
(2021).
Authenticity vs. Accuracy vs. Legitimacy: Pagano on the Vatican Documents.
Science, Method, and Argument in Galileo, 40
337-353.
Cham, Switzerland: Springer, Cham.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77147-8_17