Poor ol' Rick Santorum is already having a hard time keeping up with the Conservaherd in the Great 2016 Republican Coronation Scramble. Just look at his lame, thoroughly derivative attempt to ignore climate science during a Thursday event in Des Moines, Iowa:
-- geocentrism wasn't a purely theological doctrine. It was the prevailing view of secular scholars and philosophers since the days of Aristotle and Ptolemy.
-- not everyone in the Catholic Church opposed Galileo. The Jesuits, for example, generally agreed with him, especially after obtaining their own telescopes and performing their own observations, which confirmed Galileo's statements. They did dispute a few things with him, though, but it was an intellectual debate with no implications of heresy.
-- Pope Urban VIII supported Galileo's research and was on cordial terms with him. Galileo's adversaries were a handful of theologians and a few members of the Curia, but the Pope was not among of them.
-- the thing that really got Galileo into trouble was his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. It consisted of an imaginary debate among three scholars over the place of the Earth and the nature of the celestial sphere. One of the debaters, a character named Simplicio (the Simple One) defended the traditional geocentrist views of Aristotle, which were thoroughly refuted by the other two characters. Galileo's friend and benefactor, the Pope, had pressed Galileo to include his own viewpoint in the book, and when it was published, the Pope's input was spoken by Simplicio, the foolish one. It wasn't Galileo's defense of Copernicanism that ultimately landed him in prison; it was the charge of defamation of the Pope.
He seemed nice. Basically, Galileo got into trouble because he was a supremely arrogant wise-ass, something for which he had long been notorious. Yes, he was a brilliant and pioneering scientist, but he was also rather politically obtuse. Today we admire him as a scientist, but if we had actually known the man we may not have liked him very much as a person.
. It's very gracious of you to offer these helpful hints to Ric. Once he masters the ice cream cone he'll be ready to move on to a hot dog and after that who knows?
Good idea! It would be a great theme because it suggests the down home fun of a county fair instead of the usual feeling of depression and hopelessness caused by election coverage.
Oh, you nailed it. I often describe Galileo as a 17th Century Carl Sagan, a brilliant scientist but best known as a popularizer of science, and someone with an abrasive manner that made enemies. But Galileo didn't go to prison. His "house arrest" was basically loose surveillance.
Rick Santorum so illiterate he not know that NOBODY in educated circles in the West said the earth is flat for at least the last 2500 years. How us know? Because Ptolemy, the guy who supposedly hamstrung Western astronomy for centuries, explicitly said in the Almagest that the Earth is a sphere. He also said that compared to the sphere of the stars, the earth is a point with no measurable size. That famous "medieval" woodcut we've all seen showing some guy crawling to the edge of the earth and looking out at the clockwork of the heavens is a 19th century artist's conception (Google "Flammarion woodcut").
There's a book, "The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy." There really needs to be a book called "The Crime AGAINST Claudius Ptolemy." He was brilliant and careful in his work. It's not his fault that he did such a good job explaining the motions of the planets that nobody could improve on it for 1500 years.
I think what we are experiencing is the breakdown of capitalism. We, as a result, are living in the death throes of the fantasist notion of democracy and the republics on which they rested. As all sorts of fantastical notions spread, we need to take some comfort that all great civilizations have gone through this and most people, while not unscathed, did come through it. This isn't to say that we shouldn't fight the Christian crazies or the the Constitutional crazies afoot in the land, but it is to recognize that this has happened before and will happen again. But at some point in these disintegrating civilizations people of good conscience need to take a stand and fight off the worst effects of the degradation upon us.
Gravity is just a theory.
Reaganomie?
Santorum and his ilk are the outliers in the group. His brand of Catholicism isn't very popular among his fellow Catholics.
Even Tom Cullen knows that Ricky is full of santorum.
Re: Galileo -- a few points of clarification:
-- geocentrism wasn't a purely theological doctrine. It was the prevailing view of secular scholars and philosophers since the days of Aristotle and Ptolemy.
-- not everyone in the Catholic Church opposed Galileo. The Jesuits, for example, generally agreed with him, especially after obtaining their own telescopes and performing their own observations, which confirmed Galileo's statements. They did dispute a few things with him, though, but it was an intellectual debate with no implications of heresy.
-- Pope Urban VIII supported Galileo's research and was on cordial terms with him. Galileo's adversaries were a handful of theologians and a few members of the Curia, but the Pope was not among of them.
-- the thing that really got Galileo into trouble was his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. It consisted of an imaginary debate among three scholars over the place of the Earth and the nature of the celestial sphere. One of the debaters, a character named Simplicio (the Simple One) defended the traditional geocentrist views of Aristotle, which were thoroughly refuted by the other two characters. Galileo's friend and benefactor, the Pope, had pressed Galileo to include his own viewpoint in the book, and when it was published, the Pope's input was spoken by Simplicio, the foolish one. It wasn't Galileo's defense of Copernicanism that ultimately landed him in prison; it was the charge of defamation of the Pope.
He seemed nice. Basically, Galileo got into trouble because he was a supremely arrogant wise-ass, something for which he had long been notorious. Yes, he was a brilliant and pioneering scientist, but he was also rather politically obtuse. Today we admire him as a scientist, but if we had actually known the man we may not have liked him very much as a person.
. It's very gracious of you to offer these helpful hints to Ric. Once he masters the ice cream cone he'll be ready to move on to a hot dog and after that who knows?
Since you are isolated in a dark room, you may both exist and not exist at the same time.
I really am enjoying the cone/corndog motif. Can it be the theme for 2016 election coverage?
Good idea! It would be a great theme because it suggests the down home fun of a county fair instead of the usual feeling of depression and hopelessness caused by election coverage.
I was thinking of blowjobs from gay haters, but country fair too!
Oh, you nailed it. I often describe Galileo as a 17th Century Carl Sagan, a brilliant scientist but best known as a popularizer of science, and someone with an abrasive manner that made enemies. But Galileo didn't go to prison. His "house arrest" was basically loose surveillance.
Rick Santorum so illiterate he not know that NOBODY in educated circles in the West said the earth is flat for at least the last 2500 years. How us know? Because Ptolemy, the guy who supposedly hamstrung Western astronomy for centuries, explicitly said in the Almagest that the Earth is a sphere. He also said that compared to the sphere of the stars, the earth is a point with no measurable size. That famous "medieval" woodcut we've all seen showing some guy crawling to the edge of the earth and looking out at the clockwork of the heavens is a 19th century artist's conception (Google "Flammarion woodcut").
There's a book, "The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy." There really needs to be a book called "The Crime AGAINST Claudius Ptolemy." He was brilliant and careful in his work. It's not his fault that he did such a good job explaining the motions of the planets that nobody could improve on it for 1500 years.
I think what we are experiencing is the breakdown of capitalism. We, as a result, are living in the death throes of the fantasist notion of democracy and the republics on which they rested. As all sorts of fantastical notions spread, we need to take some comfort that all great civilizations have gone through this and most people, while not unscathed, did come through it. This isn't to say that we shouldn't fight the Christian crazies or the the Constitutional crazies afoot in the land, but it is to recognize that this has happened before and will happen again. But at some point in these disintegrating civilizations people of good conscience need to take a stand and fight off the worst effects of the degradation upon us.
Perhaps it's me being bigoted, but I really prefer caramel over chocolate.
EVERY Friday is Pantsless Friday! Also every Monday, every Tuesday, every... but you can all see where this is going, right?
Cause and Effect—Scientific Proof that God ExistsBet you feel silly NOW.P.S.: written by 'Kyle Butt, M.A.' *snickers*