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Galileo, Rationality and Explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Joseph C. Pitt
Joseph C. Pitt*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
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Abstract

It is argued that Galileo's theory of justification was a version of explanationism. Galileo's Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems is to be read as primarily a defense of his theory of the tides. He shows how, by assuming Copernican motions, he can explain the tides, thereby justifying the endorsement of Copernicus. The crux of the argument rests on Galileo's account of explanation, which is novel in its reliance on the use of geometry. Finally, the consequences of his use of geometry, and his views on the limits of knowledge, force us to conclude that if Galileo was a realist, his realism was so highly constrained as to be irrelevant.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , March 1988 , pp. 87 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © 1988 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Earlier versions of this paper were presented to the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science (Montreal 1981) and to the Center for the Study of Science in Society at Virginia Tech (1984). I wish to thank Richard Burian, Michael Resnick, Stillman Drake, Alan Gabbey, Larry Laudan, and William Shea for helpful comments; an anonymous referee for forcing several important issues; and the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh for providing the opportunity for me to contemplate and incorporate their comments.

References

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