Some aspects of the intellectual relations between Galileo and the Jesuits
During the years from 1616 (when the Decree prohibiting two Copernican propositions was issued by the Congregation of the Index) to 1623 (when Galileo published The Assayer) Jesuits of the Roman College made several attempts to draw Galileo into further discussion of his work. This was not with the intention of checking his obedience to the Decree, but in order to test the strength of any continuing work. The evidence suggests that there were certain Jesuits, who were willing, even determined, to re-open debate with him. They made a genuine attempt to build a new synthesis, aligning the established world picture with some of the new astronomical observations. The initiatory moves in these attempts, always made through a third party, ranged from the oblique to the overtly demanding. As early as 1614 a group of Jesuits at Ingoldstadt saw problems in the way the new astronomical discoveries could be used by those interested in magic and astrology, and asked Aquaviva the General of the Society of Jesus to prohibit one of their members from writing in praise of Galileo's work. From this initial move against the Galilean findings, there stemmed a reactionary group which led to a reaffirmation of the primacy of the
McClumpha, Beth
Philosophy
Some aspects of the intellectual relations between Galileo and the Jesuits. During the years from 1616 (when the Decree prohibiting two Copernican propositions was issued by the Congregation of the Index) to 1623 (when Galileo published The Assayer) Jesuits of the Roman College made several attempts to draw Galileo into further discussion of his work. This was not with the intention of checking his obedience to the Decree, but in order to test the strength of any continuing work. The evidence suggests that there were certain Jesuits, who were willing, even determined, to re-open debate with him. They made a genuine attempt to build a new synthesis, aligning the established world picture with some of the new astronomical observations. The initiatory moves in these attempts, always made through a third party, ranged from the oblique to the overtly demanding. As early as 1614 a group of Jesuits at Ingoldstadt saw problems in the way the new astronomical discoveries could be used by those interested in magic and astrology, and asked Aquaviva the General of the Society of Jesus to prohibit one of their members from writing in praise of Galileo's work. From this initial move against the Galilean findings, there stemmed a reactionary group which led to a reaffirmation of the primacy of the
aspect intellectual relation jesuits decree prohibit proposition issue congregation index publish jesuits roman college make several attempt_draw discussion work intention check obedience decree order_test strength continue work evidence_suggest certain jesuits willing even determine open debate him make genuine attempt_build new synthesis align establish world_picture new astronomical observation move attempt always make third party range oblique overtly demand early group jesuits saw problem way new astronomical discovery could_use interested magic astrology ask general society jesus prohibit member write praise work initial move finding stem reactionary group lead primacy