Cardinal Bellarmine's Letter To Foscarini

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In Cardinal Bellarmine’s letter to Foscarini (1615) Bellarmine explains to Reverend Father Paolo Antonio Foscarini about how to approach Copernicasism and why it should not be accepted as concept of reality. Instead he suggests that Copernicasism should only be acknowledged as a working hypothesis. In this letter Bellarmine’s explains why Copernicasism can be valued however there a sense of demonstration is needed in order to accept Copernicasism. He also expresses that it is dangerous to accept Copernicasism outright. The concept of Copernicanism to Bellarmine does have some value to him and expresses that mathematicians would able to use Copernican astronomy, as it “is sufficient for the mathematicians” (Bellarmine, 1615, pg 67). This …show more content…

As he believes that this would threaten jurisdiction of the church and would also undermine the interpretation of the Holy Scripture “harm the Holy Faith by rendering Holy Scripture false” (Bellarmine, 1615, pg 68). Therefore using Copernicanism as a working hypothesis is a better option for the church than expecting it as reality. He also recognises that by accepting Copernicanism outright would demonstrate that the church had interpreted the Holy Scripture wrong thus causing the Church to lose its authority in the community more quickly and essentially causing the believers of the Church to lose faith in it. He uses this example in order to get his point across “ likely not only to irritate all scholastic philosopher and theologians, but also to harm the Holy Faith by rendering Holy Scripture false…many ways of interpreting Holy Scripture, but has not applied them to particular cases; without a doubt you would have encountered very great difficulties if you have wanted to interpret all those passages you yourself cited” (Bellarmine, 1615, pg 67). Further explaining that not only would people who believe in the Church would start having doubts but also philosophers and theologians. This further drives this message that it is better to accept Copernicanism as a …show more content…

Even though aspects of Copernicasism is acknowledged and accepted but it requires proof and accepting Copernicasism outright is dangerous for the Church. Therefore Bellarmine concludes that because of theses reason Copernicasism can only be accepted as a working hypothesis and not as

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