Wallace’s Galileo and His Sources: Suppositional vs. Hypothetical Reasoning
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:
407
Last page number:
415
Abstract
This is a critical examination of William Wallace’s Galileo and His Sources: The Heritage of the Collegio Romano in Galileo’s Science (1984). I argue that Wallace’s book is a noteworthy contribution to the history of philosophy, the history of science, Medieval and Renaissance studies, and Galilean scholarship. In particular, Wallace establishes a significant connection between Galileo and the Jesuit Collegio Romano, thus suggesting an approach to the critical interpretation of the Galileo affair that is more judicious than the usual accounts. Moreover, Wallace emphasizes what he calls suppositional reasoning in both Galileo’s epistemological writings and his scientific work, thus strengthening the emerging appreciation of Galileo as a logician-in-action. However, questions remain about whether all science-vs-religion conflict can be really eliminated from the Galileo affair, and about whether Wallace’s concept of suppositional reasoning is really powerful enough to do away with other crucial forms such as demonstrative, hypothetical, and probable reasoning.
Controlled Subject
Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642; Reviews
Disciplines
History of Philosophy | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | Philosophy
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).
Wallace’s Galileo and His Sources: Suppositional vs. Hypothetical Reasoning.
Science, Method, and Argument in Galileo, 40
407-415.
Cham, Switzerland: Springer, Cham.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77147-8_21