Working to prep a class later in the semester, I came across a letter
written in 1615 by Galileo to the Grand Duchess of Tuscany, in which
he defends his ideas and complains about those who accuse him of
heresy. His arguments are striking in light of recent debates about
teaching creationism alongside evolution in the schools:
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed
us with senses, reason and intellect has intended us to forego
their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can
attain by them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason in
physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct
experience or necessary demonstrations. This must be especially
true in those sciences of which but the faintest trace is to be
found in the Bible.
People who are unable to understand perfectly both the Bible and
science far outnumber those who do understand them. The former,
glancing superficially through the Bible, would arrogate to
themselves the authority to decree upon every question of physics
on the strength of some word which they have misunderstood, and
which was employed by the sacred authors for some different
purpose. And the smaller number of understanding men could not dam
up the furious torrent of such people, who would gain the majority
of followers simply because it is much more pleasant to gain a
reputation for wisdom without effort or study than to consume
oneself tirelessly in the most laborious disciplines.
(Full text may be found here.)
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Cat furniture
Published by Pilgrim/Heretic.
I have lots of pissy and spiteful and furious things to say about how
our government is mishandling the crisis in New Orleans, but if I keep
thinking about that, my head will explode.
So in the interest of levity, I bring you instead a little bit of
weekend cat-blogging. We took advantage of a Pier One sale last
weekend to spruce up the dining room; OneCat and TwoCat of course
assumed that new furniture must be intended to showcase not plants or
vases but their own beautiful selves.
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About me
* I'm Pilgrim/Heretic
* From Just over the horizon
* Pilgrim: More committed to journeys than destinations. Heretic:
Too curious for my own good.
* My profile
Still on the table
* Charmed, I'm Sure
* Conclusive evidence
* This Is It
* On the Eights
* 2008: so far, so good
* Happy Festivus!
* Year in review
* Space for the gods to find me
* A belated list of seven
* Spanish spicy
Aging in the cask
* November 2004
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* April 2005
* May 2005
* June 2005
* July 2005
* August 2005
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* October 2007
* November 2007
* December 2007
* January 2008
* February 2008
Riff-raff
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