Galileo Galilei's Dialogue Of Two Chief World Systems

From the excerpts of Galileo Galilei's Dialogue of Two Chief World Systems, there are three characters that discuss two different theories. One character, named Salviati, argues a heliocentric view of the motion within the universe which opposes the geocentric view that is supported by the character Simplicio. The third character, Sagredo, behaves as a mediator of the other two and represents someone who is neutral to as well as undecided between the two theories. During the time that The Dialogue was published, in 1632, the geocentric view, also known as the Ptolemaic system, was widely accepted by philosophers and was supported by the Catholic Church for centuries. Galileo uses his three characters, especially Salviati, to propose his reasons for why the heliocentric model should be taken into account and may even surpass the geocentric model. Salviati

Even so, in order to justify his claims, he used tangible observations such as those that can be observed from earth in order to explain the heliocentric model. He even questions Simplicio’s claim concerning the opposite motions of the planets and the universe having little significance due to Aristotle’s statement that they do not move contrary to each other. Salviati argued the validity of Simplicio’s claim by asking whether Aristotle said that due to his observations or to accommodate the geocentric model. Beside this, it is apparent within the Dialogue, that when Simplicio claims that his opponent is disregarding the infinite power of “the Mover” of the universe and stars, which is most likely to be God, Salviati states that he isn’t considering the Mover in his argument but only the observable objects that seem to have movement in relation and not in relation to each other. He also states the amount of infinite power exerted by the Mover wouldn’t matter because one part of this force would not greater than the other since it is