Why Was Galileo An Outsider?

Improved Essays
By dictionary definition, an outsider is, “A person not belonging to a particular group, set, party, etc. ” Reading about Galileo and the life he lead, it is safe to consider him an outsider. He was known for being different and formatting his own opinions and beliefs, even when they went against the norm. Galileo not only went against the doctrines of Aristotle and many other scientists, but against the Catholic Church and its ideologies. His, what were thought to be heretic views, resulted in him getting punished by means of house arrest. All these events show Galileo to be “A person unconnected or unacquainted ” with society, or simply, an outsider. When making his own scientific discoveries, Galileo often found evidence contradicting popular …show more content…
The Aristotelian point of view was supported by the Church. Thus, going against Aristotle and the Ptolemaic system meant going against the Church, which could’ve resulted in torture, imprisonment, or execution. Galileo was not daunted however, and continued to study and believe in the Copernicus system. Outwardly straying from society’s views and the Church’s philosophes made Galileo an outsider if nothing else. He was warned by the Church to not discuss or study the Copernicus system. Eventually, he was allowed to study it as long as his theories remained only hypothesizes but Galileo continued his work on the matter, writing the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Instead of following the lead of society and doing as he was told, Galileo went on, by himself, and further educated on the Copernicus system. He didn’t heed the warning of even his friends because his ideas were ones he stood for and supported. He made himself an outsider by not, “Belonging to a particular group”, in this case group being society. Finally, the fact that Galileo was placed under house arrest makes him an outsider. As a result of him going against the Church, Galileo was banished to his home in Florence and forced to stay there forever. Hence, Galileo literally became an outsider. He wasn’t allowed go to out and participate with society because of his beliefs. In other words, his

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Outsider is when a person who is very isolated from others. In The Body of Christopher Creed by Plum-Ucci and the article “Kids Shuffle Lunch Seats” by Bock, outsiders are described as kids that are isolated at school, home and anywhere else. The author’s message about outsiders is that people who are outsiders needed to speak up when they do have a difficult time socializing with other people, this is proven in the book when Chris Creed had a lot of money, but lacked at using social skills and oftenly very isolated, and people described Chris Creed as a big mouth, weird, annoying, etc. He became an outsider because they’re bullying him. In the article, when Lili Smith goes to cafeteria to eat lunch, but goes directly to bathroom and cries,…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wishing however, to remove from the minds of your Eminences and all faithful Christians this vehement suspicion reasonably conceived against me, I abjure with a sincere heart and unfeigned faith, I curse and detest the said errors and heresies, and generally all and every error, heresy, and sect contrary to the Holy Catholic Church” (Shea and Artega). Galileo was not thrown in jail but instead had his sentence changed to house arrest. In December 1633 he was allowed to retire to his villa in Arcetri, outside of Florence. During this time he finished his last book, Discourses on the Two New Sciences, which was published in 1638, in Holland, by Louis Elzivier.…

    • 962 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Galileo Dbq

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Galileo…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Scientific Revolution Dbq

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Copernicus disproved the Church by saying that the earth orbited the sun, and Galileo stated that the sun was the center of the universe and the earth rotated around it. Galileo was punished by the pope with a lifetime sentence of house arrest, where he stayed for the remainder of his days. Copernicus was not punished since he published his works while he was on his deathbed, and died before he was able to be punished. Even though both Copernicus and Galileo’s theories were true, the Church still did not accept them. No matter how accurate a scientist’s work may be, it was still not accepted since it contradicted previous beliefs.…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Grendel in the novel and the monster in Frankenstein are very similar. Grendel and the monster share the feeling of being an outsider, they both kill humans, and both feel justified in there killings. Being an outsider is a common character trait in many stories because being left out is something that many people have experienced. In Grendel he feels left out due to not having a companion. Grendel questions, “Why can’t I have someone to talk to?”…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Why would the major theory maintained by the Aristotle anticipate the view of Copernicus? At the time, the theory was controlled by science and religion. This is the hazard of disagreeing with a method, which logically criticizes the kind of creative inventiveness and freethinking of the extensive list of Copernicus and Galileo. Maybe it is time to scrap such disagreements for normal science and theories. Maybe it is time for experts to guide by recognizable proofs and open thinking (Bronowsk, J.,…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term outsider means, “A person who does not belong to a particular circle, community, profession, etc.; a person originating from elsewhere. Also: a person unconnected with a matter; a person lacking special knowledge of a subject,” (OED). This outsider can also also be someone who is a different race or even someone who refuses to conform to the social norm. The term outsider derives from the English language, with its earliest recorded use being in 1837 by Albany Fonblangu. Due to the term being around for 180 years, while still quite new to the English language, it is not an uncommon characteristic of those in American Literature.…

    • 1544 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Some people might consider outsiders weird and strange, but they can bring many much needed changes to society. Most of the great minds in this world were outsiders. Outsiders can bring a much needed change to society. For example Abe Lincoln fought for the rights of black slaves. Many people thought that having slaves was necessary and normal.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What Galileo was arguing was, if the faculties of the senses are G-d given, so is the need for reason, which in this case would be science, more specifically his scientific claims. By choosing not to question and reason all that was presented as the truth, one was choosing not to follow one of the actual Scriptural truths. Furthermore, this claim opposed what Aristotle proved to be the truth (the Church’s convention), and “therefore mistrusting their defense so long as they confine themselves to the field of philosophy, these men have resolved to fabricate a shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion and the authority of the Bible.” Even though his teachings were not accepted by the general public, there were a few religious figures that backed up his statements.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    You tell the world who you are in a million different ways, some are subtle, some are not, but it doesn't seem to matter, this world has already got you pegged. Are outsiders those who are misjudged or misunderstood? The answer is no, because that's just not how it works. Whether or not you are an outsider isn’t subjective to other people’s feelings. It depends on your personality, who you truly are.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Galileo and Socrates both offer various methods of arriving at conclusions within their philosophies and studies, each articulating specific information to their followers as they advocate through either science or philosophy. Within the Republic, Socrates offers his stance on justice and its placement within a city run by philosophers through reasoning. However, within the Sidereal Messenger, Galileo offers his account of information through the scientific method, a method that uses facts to support his cause. These two approaches vary immensely, each contrasting in their approach to the justification of their work and therefore cannot be used interchangeably. As Galileo’s scientific method allowed him to concoct factual evidence surrounding his findings, this approach would naturally not enable Socrates to prove his ideologies as it is merely theoretical pondering, not evidence based conclusions that can be proved in reality, therefore the methods used by Galileo would not be feasible to test…

    • 1384 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This lasted from September of 1632 through July of 1633. During this time, he was threatened with torture until he finally stated that he supported the Copernican Theory, but secretly he still believed that the Sun was the center of the universe. At the end of the trial, Galileo Galilei was convicted of heresy and was placed under house arrested for the rest of his life. During this time, he wasn’t supposed to have any visitors and wasn’t supposed to publish any sort of writing. Once again, he ignored both of these regulations.…

    • 699 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Being An Outsider

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Do you feel as though you are an outsider? Or see strange people walking around? Well, before you go around judging people just based upon their appearance or because they do not act the same as you. Definitely take the time to consider their value to our society and to our whole world. First of all, feeling like an outsider is a common thing people feel in many different settings and situations.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Outsider Analysis

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Hinton never uses the word "outsider" in her novel, yet it's the title of the book. Maybe she left it open for us to ponder. Write an essay in which you explain what she may have meant by The Outsiders. Be sure to define what you mean by an outsider, and then explain who you think Ms. Hinton was referencing when she titled her book.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Misunderstood Are outsiders simply those who are misjudged or misunderstood? Being an outsider means that you are different from everyone else. You’re being yourself and not being like everyone else. Some people do not like other people being like that like all the popular people don’t like the people who act different or “weird” to them. Just in todays society if you act different you’re not accepted by anybody besides people who do the same thing you do.…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays