Galileo : A Very Short Introduction by Stillman Drake introduces many view points, mostly in the introduction, that discuss the conflicts between Galileo and other philosophers, and theologians. Drake believed that Galileo’s work was a collection of conclusions. “Galileo’s science was not a closed system, as was Aristotle’s. It was not so much a collection of conclusions as it was a method.” Drake also remarks about Galileo’s relationship with the church. Drake believes that Galileo shows excessive zeal towards the Church. Before Galileo there was no distinction between philosophy and religion. Galileo created science that was not accepted by philosophers from Drake’s perspective.

There were many philosophers and scientists that challenged the views and works of Galileo. Bellarmine challenged the theories of Galileo in 1615. From Stillman Drake’s point of view, the Catholic church was comprised of extraordinary individuals such as Galileo, but three cardinals out of ten, declined to sign the sentence passed against him. Galileo was saved by the archbishop from sanity and his life.

Galileo’s work conflicted with other scientists, such as Kepler, and Newtons later work. For example inertial motion , which Galileo believed only heavy bodies moved through short distances near the Earth’s surface, Newton discovered the law of universal gravitation which extended Galileo’s theory and Newton also experimented on this which proved to be true. I agree with the author that there was a substantial addition to Galileo’s theory on inertial motion but Galileo did discover the foundation of the idea. Which means that it was not a crucial conflict with Galileo’s idea on inertial motion.

Drake conceived that Galileo’s science was scientific more than philosophy based. I strongly oppose Drake’s view on this due to the fact that science is defined as a series of experiments on a theory to prove it true. But Galileo hardly experiment on his theories, he based it on observation and used philosophy to support his views. Instead of measuring he reasoned his way in his theories which led into incorrect solutions on ideas in physics.

I observed Drake’s view on Galileo’s idea on tides to be useful and truthful versus Oster’s view. Tides was a major factor that supported Galileo’s theory in getting attention from people through his demonstration. His theory was incorrect but the scientific part of his theory were reasonably correct.

Another major theory that was ignored by Galileo was the elliptical planetary orbits, which Kepler introduced. This resulted in people ignoring his views on astronomy for he had no justification of his theory. He tried to use the idea of resistance on the Earth to prove his idea on the tides. But he made incorrect assumptions leading him to begin controversial questions through philosophers and scientists.

Galileo published his book on the Copernicus’s theory called Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World – Ptolemaic and Copernican which the Inquisition banned due to the breach between the philosophy and science based support on theories that were false. “This has led to much modern criticism by scholars who ignore the purpose of the Dialogue and speak as if Galileo intended it to be a textbook of astronomy.” This represents the dislike of the views of Galileo on astronomy.

Galileo is known for his end result conclusions on his theories. For example his theory on the pendulum was obtained from observation on an old pendulum clock. Another example would be his theory behind astronomy which was not taken from any sources but also through observation. But some of Galileo’s discoveries about motion was done with very careful measurement. To calculate these measurements, Galileo had to come up with a definition of velocity and instantaneous velocity. Galileo used the mathematical physics to come up with the application of a theory of proportionality to actual measurements.

“A great many theorems of only theoretical interest were included, but the basis was laid for mathematical treatment of many practical problems in physics.” Drake believes that there are many problems in the mathematical part of physics that is still not understood but the theories are signs of interest. The second science that was introduced by Galileo was natural motions. Aristotle had made motion and change the basis of all physics, but no one discovered the laws by which bodies are accelerated in natural descent. Or had acknowledged the independent composition of motions that permitted accurate description of paths of projectiles.

“A more radical conception of science as demanding absolute freedom was later formulated by intellectuals who saw religion as an uncompressing for of Science.” Drake meant that this was the culmination of the controversial conception between science and religion. Drake displays his views in the introduction of the book, about how Galileo and the Church were two completely different figures. Drake overly emphasizes on the word “zeal” when he talks about Galileo and his works and how the Church responds.

Galileo: A Very Short Introduction by Stillman Drake, displays the authors views on Galileo’s work and his relationship with other philosophers and theologians. Drake conceived that Galileo concluded with a series of conclusions of his works. There were many conflicts that Drake believed to be a substantial factor in Galileo’s reasoning for his theories. Galileo was more of a philosopher than he was a scientist due to the fact that he hardly experimented on his theories. My interpretation of Drake’s book Galileo, was intriguing in the sense that he clearly stated his views in the introduction and supported it through the entirety of the book.