Arguing About the Earth’s Motion

Authors

Maurice A. Finocchiaro, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

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:

39

Last page number:

57

Abstract

Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican (1632) can be read from the viewpoints of methodological judgment and critical reasoning; methodological judgment means the avoidance of one-sidedness and extremes; and critical reasoning means reasoning aimed at the analysis and evaluation of arguments. Classic sources for these readings are Thomas Salusbury (1661) and the Port-Royal logicians (1662). This focus does not deny the book’s scientific, historical, rhetorical, and aesthetic dimensions; it is critical of excessively rhetorical readings; and it suggests solutions to the problems of hermeneutical pluralism, interpretation versus evaluation, and theory versus practice. And the book’s methodological judgment and critical reasoning can be shown to correspond to Galileo’s own self-reflections.

Controlled Subject

Galilei, Galileo, 1564-1642; Earth (Planet); Critical thinking

Disciplines

Philosophy of Science | The Sun and the Solar System

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). Arguing About the Earth’s Motion. Science, Method, and Argument in Galileo, 40 39-57. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, Cham.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77147-8_4