I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought not to begin at the authority of places of Scripture, but at sensible experiments and necessary demonstrations.
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"The difficulties in the study of the infinite arise because we attempt, with our finite minds, to discuss the infinite, assigning to it those properties which we give to the finite and limited; but th…"
"The senses, though they are sometimes deceived, are not always so."
"To deny the principles of philosophy is to reject reason itself."
"The senses, being the interpreters of natural effects, are the only door to scientific knowledge."
"The universe is a grand book which cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written."
From his Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, advocating for empirical science.
Date: 1615
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When investigating how nature works, we should start with hands-on experiments and logical proof, not by quoting religious texts. Evidence and reason must drive scientific inquiry. Authority and tradition cannot substitute for what we can actually observe and demonstrate. Truth about the physical world must be established through testing and rigorous argument, regardless of what any written doctrine claims.
Galileo lived this principle dangerously. His telescopic observations confirmed heliocentrism, directly contradicting Church-endorsed Ptolemaic cosmology. The Inquisition tried and convicted him in 1633 for exactly this stance—prioritizing empirical observation over scriptural authority. He spent his final years under house arrest for refusing to fully subordinate natural philosophy to theological decree.
The early modern period saw fierce tension between emerging empirical science and entrenched Church authority over all knowledge. Scripture was treated as the ultimate arbiter of natural truth. Galileo wrote during the Counter-Reformation, when the Church aggressively policed intellectual boundaries. His position challenged a millennium-old epistemic order where theology outranked observation in every domain of human understanding.
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