Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Copernicus or Galileo
If you were one of these men who discovered/believed that the earth was not the center of the universe, what would you do? Would you: attempt to prove it, possibly be resented for it, and yet attempt make a name for yourself like Galileo; or write it down, tell no one, but conversely not get fame or recognition for your discovery, and thus peacefully die like Copernicus?
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If I was one of these men who believed that e earth was not the center of the universe I think that I would react and handle myself fairly similarly to the way Galileo did. I would work carefully and meticulously until I was 100% certain that my theories could be successfully proven. The one thing that I would do differently from Galileo is that before approaching the church with my ideas, I would obtain many followers and supporters of my beliefs ( many is better than 1). I would also, at first, discuss my ideas as if they were purely hypothetical, not definite and factual. This way, I wouldn't be persecuted as harshly. As pointed out in the reading, the church agrees that this was one of Galileo's mistakes. I think overall what I'm trying to say is that I would rather die knowing that I did everything I could to prove the truth, rather than die not knowing whether my hard work would ever truly pay off.
ReplyDeleteI would attempt to prove the theory, but I would discuss it with multiple people to make sure that my argument was valid. I could also write it down and if it was discovered I would be famous because people would know I was right, but if I was wrong then nobody could persecute me. I would be dead.
ReplyDeleteI think this decision is an accurate representation of a person's character. Copernicus' decision not to display his findings shows that he is circumspect and did not want fame at a cost of his reputation as a person. On the other hand, Galileo knew that his ideas were radical and would go against everything that was believed by Aristotle, the church, and the people for years. Even with all of this, he chose to publish and share his findings. Personally, I think I would do similarly to what Copernicus did, just because I would not want to risk my life to prove something that I knew would be proven anyway in a matter of time.
ReplyDeleteBoth Copernicus and Galileo published their ideas. The difference was that Copernicus wrote in the scholarly latin, while Galileo chose to write in the vastly more commonly understood italian. Galileo was aiming his teachings at the masses, whereas Copernicus was writing for a scholarly audience. If I was one of them today, I think I would be like Copernicus, and aim my ideas at more educated people. Eventually, if the learned community accepted my theories, maybe I would start writing for the common masses.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maddie and sort of Ethan. If I were completely sure of my discoveries and knew how to prove it then I would jump straight to the scholarly people like Copernicus. If I only had a little confidence in my ideas I would tell the uneducated and get them to agree with me. Then once I had followers I would tell the educated.
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