WC II Galileo

Functionalist vs. Realist Models

• Functionalist Model:
  • Theories that accurately describe how things work.
  • Focus on predictive accuracy.
  • Prevailed for most of human history and still exists in science.
• Realist Model:
  • Theories that assert a reality about the world.
  • Asserts theories are real, not just making predictions.
  • Hallmark of the modern era.

Galileo's Assertions

• Galileo asserted his theory as real, not just functional.
• Argued the sun rotates on its own axis and is the center of the universe.
• His confrontation involves the interpretation of Joshua where the sun stands still.
• Compares the sun to the heart, claiming the motion of planets depends on the sun's rotation.
• Was he right?
  • The sun is NOT the center of the universe.
  • His theory wasn't entirely accurate.

Newtonian Physics

• Taught as functionalist, though once believed real.
• Quantum mechanics have questioned Newtonian physics.
• Used in the Apollo program for trajectory calculations to the moon.
• Still taught because "it works".

Conflict with the Church

• Galileo's letter was written in 1615; placed under house arrest in 1634 for heresy.
• Copernicus was not sanctioned or tried for heresy.
• Galileo's confrontation is the interpretation of Joshua when the sun stands still

Ptolemaic System

• Ptolemy's geocentric system places Earth in the middle.
• Identifies levels of the planets.
• Planets move in elliptical orbits, a concept Ptolemy accurately predicted.
• Ptolemy had ellipses in his model to account for planetary movement with Earth at the center.

Galileo's Contributions

• Sun is rotating.
• Discovery of moons orbiting Jupiter.
• Observed that Venus has phases.
  • Venus has phases because it is illuminated by the sun.
  • Proved that something other than Earth can be orbited.
  • Other astronomers adapted the Ptolemaic model.

Weaknesses of Galileo's Argument

• Model required everything to move towards the sun.
• Experience indicates things move towards the Earth.
• His model was an incomplete theory since it needed things to move towards the sun.
• Better functionalist model existed at the time.

Galileo's Condemnation

• Known for his flamboyant personality and aggressive views.
• Rejected scriptural exegesis.
• Pope Urban VIII initially supported Galileo but wanted him to acknowledge multiple explanations for the same phenomenon.
• In "Dialogue," Galileo ridiculed Pope's views through the character Simplicio.
• The church rejected Galileo's theories because they didn't hold up to the standard of science.
• Implications of Galileo's theory: Earth moves fast and spins.

Coriolis Effect

• Not detected until the 19th century.
• Causes hurricanes to turn clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Affects the way bullets bounce based on hemisphere.
• Two hundred years before science could explain missing phenomena from Galileo's theory.

Galileo and Scripture

• Galileo condemned for heresy because he wanted to reinterpret scripture.
• Scripture or science: Which is the greater authority?
• Moving into modernism: Fragmentation of learning.
• The Bible teaches how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.
• Religion and science are distinct things.

Fragmentation of Knowledge

• Modernism has caused the breaking up of knowledge into distinct categories.
• Galileo sees the bible as useful for spiritual things but not science.
• Separation of fields leads to questions about learning from science and scripture.
• Neuroscience vs. Psychology: Functional (behavior) vs. Real (brain).

Creation and Science

• The bible isn't literal; it does not tell us anything about the origins of the universe.
• Earth cannot be moved.
• The earth is not flat with four corners.
• Augustine's theory of time.
• Day during creation is outside of our dimension of time.