Galileo and Enlightenment

I’m a little late with this, but February 15th marked the 441st birthday of Galileo Galilee, scientist, philosopher, mathematician, professor, musician and painter. (Wouldn’t it be nice if history ascribed that many descriptors to your name.) While there is no particular significance to this specific anniversary of his birth, I did come across a passage at UniverseToday.com that I found somewhat profound:

There can be no doubt that Galileo's [telescope] marked a major departure toward the way we now view the world. For before Galileo's era the heavens and the Earth were not in accord. The bulk of the thinking going on prior to Galileo was scholastic in nature. Truth depended on the words of the ancients - words which carried greater weight of authority than natural law and behavior. It was the era of faith - not science - that Galileo was born into. But his observations built a bridge between Terrum et Coelum. Earth and sky became part of a single natural order. The telescope could demonstrate to anyone with an open mind that there was more to all things than could be conceived of by the great minds of the past. Nature had begun to instruct the hearts and minds of humanity...

That bit about natural law and behavior turning the tables on the past and becoming the final arbiter of truth was the beginning of (or at least a positive push towards) the enlightenment of our current civilization. Unfortunately, we still have quite a ways to go.

If only more people understood that the empirical observation of nature is our best known means to finding truth. Far too many still submit their beliefs to the power of authority, whether it be to political leaders, religious leaders or a New Age guru peddling the latest and most fashionable snake oil. This conflict perhaps is most clearly evident in the cultural divide between fundamentalist believers (of any religion) and those moderate believers and non-believers who are more empirically minded.

I never understood why this was so. If fundamentalist believers accept that God (insert deity of choice) created the Universe then why wouldn’t it follow that the highest “truth” be evident from the observation of that creation? Galileo observed (as could anyone else who looked through his telescope) what he believed was God’s creation and found it supporting the then controversial Copernican theory. Yet he found himself in a struggle with the Catholic Church who felt such views challenged the Christian view of the Universe. Interestingly, there was no real biblical support for such a view, but the Church had previously adopted the Aristotelian view of the world and over time it became dogma. This dogma which at bottom was based on pure speculation was to trump a truth that anyone could see plainly with their own eyes.

The lesson here extends beyond the battle between science and traditionally held religious beliefs, but also into politics and society where too often plain to see data observed in the real world is brushed aside in favor of an argument from authority.

Hence, many Conservatives accept without question or critical analysis the logically flawed assertions of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk as gospel, while many Liberals latch on to any conspiratorial theory espoused by the Michael Moore’s of the world. The often complex truth gets lost in the resulting shouting of slogans and the endless repetition of dumbed-down talking points. The danger here, aside from potentially drawing inaccurate conclusions that have potentially world altering ramifications, is that over time the public is conditioned to simply accept the assertions of their chosen set of authority figures as inerrant fact. Critical analysis and objective observation of the evidence once again takes a back seat to faith in the word of authority.

When we as a species can fix that problem, we will truly be enlightened and nature can begin again to “instruct the hearts and minds of humanity”.