In Galileo's Mistake, Wade Rowland sets out to rewrite the myth at the foundation of modern science: that science represents truth and religion, and something else. Traditionally Galileo has been seen as the first scientist to question the authority of religion in determining truth.
The alternative, that Galileo proposed, was reason. But, as Rowland points out, reason doesn't necessarily have the authority to determine truth either, at least not in any ultimate sense.
According to Rowland, Galileo's mistake was that one unique explanation of natural phenomenon was possible and that this single explanation would render all others obsolete. But he lost sight of one important fact, that science was theory; practical theory, but theory none the less.
It was a mistake that would have incredible political, religious, and philosophical ramifications for Galileo himself, for Western culture and for our own age.
It is a stunning point and Rowland makes it in wonderfully readable prose, that incorporates elements of the type of Platonic dialogue that Galileo himself employed.
This is not only a book of ideas - about theology versus ideology - but a travel guide to the middle ages and a tour through the social and political landscape that shaped western approaches to the world.
Check it out at Amazon.com
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