Copernicus's Argument Analysis

Nicholas Copernicus’s writings date back to 1473 - 1543. At this specific time in history, Scripture was believed to be the divine source of knowledge; however, Copernicus had his own views that he was wary about sharing. As his “friends” persuaded him to share his beliefs and findings, he structured his argument carefully. Not only did he understand his audience, he argued that he was not the first individual to write down his words and thoughts that differed from Scripture. As the Bible says, each person on earth is equal, except for God. As the years passed on, further astronomists expanded off of Copernicus’s thoughts, and transcribed their own. Galileo Galilei’s writings were written shortly after the reactions to Copernicus’s publishing settled down, from 1564-1642. At this specific time in history, Scripture was still believed to be the divine source of knowledge; however, …show more content…
Thus, “those propositions which are not matters of faith… should be preferred over that of all human writings which are supported only by bare assertions or probable arguments, and not set forth in a demonstrative way”. These arguments which are being published should not be held credible or put into motion within a lab. Galileo’s strongest argument ironically is presented within the last paragraph. He writes, “But I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them…” Therefore, if God gave him senses, reason, and intellect, why should he not use them? God did everything for a reason; thus, why can he not apply his gifts to discovering the truth about the Bible. In a way, Galileo is only trying to get closer to God by learning more about his