Letter to the grand duchess christina by galileo Essay

Letter to the grand duchess christina by galileo - Essay Example In explaining the concept of ‘two truths’, Galileo holds to the view that both the scriptures and science are true and the two truths do not contradict one another. Galileo supported his concept of two truths by giving examples that explaining how both science and scriptures reveal the truths about the universe and the nature of God. How Galileo supported his concept of the ‘two truths’ In order to support his statement that the scriptures and science are true and they do not contradict one another, Galileo states that the two truths proceed from the divine word. However, he makes it clear that discussions of physical problems has to start from necessary demonstration and sense experiences and not from scriptural experiences. in regard to science verses th scriptures, Galileo states that we should not believe anything any howly least we hold some prejudice against something that is later to be proofed not to be contrary to the scriptures. Galileo explains th at God is revealed first through nature and then again by doctrine. The revelation by nature comes through his works and revelation by doctrine comes through his revealed word (Drake 182).The scriptures explain that God is the creator of all. He made the heaven, the universe, earth and all in it. Galileo’s agreement with this is seen where he complains of having been accused as by other philosophers as if he has placed things in the sky to overturn sciences and upset nature. In essence, he meant that scientific discoveries are in no way a contradiction of the scriptural revelation of God as the creator but a proof of it. It helps to bring out the things he has created. Through the scriptures, we get to learn that God created man and this automatically qualifies human intellect, senses and reason as things given by God. The same God who granted the senses and reasons cannot deny the people the entrusted the intellect, senses and reasons not to use them. Galileo also argues tha t he does not believe the same God who gave us intellect, reason and senses has intended to forego their use and decided to give human beings knowledge through another means yet it is knowledge that they could have obtained through the use of the reason, senses and intellect (Drake 183). At the same time, God has revealed about the universe and nature through the scriptures. For example, he mentions oceans, clouds, deserts, animals, heavenly bodies like sun, moon and stars among others. It also reveals the functions or functioning of some for example the sun giving light. However, these revelations and explanation are not in totality. For example they do not explain how the heavenly bodies are positioned and move about relative to one another. This means there was a chance for men to use the reasons and senses entrusted to them to discover the details of these creations and therefore discoveries are never a contradiction of the scriptures. As seen above, science helps to explain to those who believe in the scriptures some of the truths that the scriptures does not bring out plainly. As Galileo reveals, some of these questions are those asked by believers of the scriptures for example the motion of heaven. One question that emerges from the brethren is, if heaven is fixed, then how do stars that are fixed to it move from east to west? (Taylor 93). It is obvious they mean how the stars move round the earth because the scriptures reveal that heaven is where God dwells and it is a spiritual place. This means that it is not visible with the mortal eyes and