In a startling reinterpretation of the evidence, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church, but by the hostility of contemporary philosophers. Galileo's own beautifully lucid arguments are used to show how his scientific method--based on a search not for causes but for laws--was utterly divorced from the Aristotelian approach to physics. His methodology had a definitive impact on the development of modern physics, and led to a final parting of the ways between science and philosophy.

Author Biography

STILLMAN DRAKE was Professor of the History of Science at the University of Toronto. His translations of Galileo's scientific works include "Cause, Experiment, and Scien"ce (1981) and "Telescopes, Tides, and Tactics" (1983).