Table of Contents

Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction. The Galileo Affair from Descartes to John Paul II: A Survey of Sources, Facts, and Issues 1. The Condemnation of Galileo (1633) 2. Promulgation and Diffusion of the News (1633-1651) 3. Emblematic Reactions: Descartes, Peiresc, Galileo's Daughter (1633-1642) 4. Polarizations: Secularism, Liberalism, Fundamentalism (1633-1661) 5. Compromises: Viviani, Auzout, Leibniz (1654-1704) 6. Myth-making or Enlightenment? Pascal, Voltaire, the Encyclopedia (1657-1777) 7. Incompetence or Enlightenment? Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) 8. New Lies, Documents, Myths, Apologies (1758-1797) 9. Napoleonic Wars and Trials (1810-1821) 10. The Inquisition on Galileo's Side? The Settele Affair (1820) and Beyond (1835) 11. Varieties of Torture: Demythologizing Galileo's Trial? (1835-1867) 12. A Miscarriage of Justice? The Documentation of Impropriety (1867-1879) 13. Galileo Right Again, Wrong Again: Hermeneutics, Epistemology, "Heresy" (1866-1928) 14. A Catholic Hero: Tricentennial Rehabilitation (1941-1947) 15. Secular Indictments: Brecht's Atomic Bomb and Koestler's Two Cultures (1947-1959) 16. History on Trial: The Paschini Affair (1941-1979) 17. More "Rehabilitation": Pope John Paul II (1979-1992) Epilogue: Unfinished Business Notes Select Bibliography Index

About the Author

Maurice A. Finocchiaro, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, is author of Beyond Right and Left: Democratic Elitism in Mosca and Gramsci (1999) and Galileo on the World Systems: A New Abridged Translation and Guide (1997), among other books.

Reviews

"A fascinating account of how the trial and its cultural significance have been freshly reconstructed by scholars and polemicists through the ages."