ABSTRACT
The advocacy of science by a scientist like Galileo or by courtiers, lawyers, propagandists, politicians, scientist-philosophers and others like Francis Bacon, Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Anne Robert Jacques Turgot helped to initiate the scientific movement. Acts of faith may underlie the effort to advance scientific knowledge, but inquiries into that faith have been the province of philosophers. This chapter is concerned with two case studies of “science in the public arena” during the early modern scientific revolution. It discusses Galileo’s attempts to define his position as a scientist. In Florence Galileo encountered the clergy’s criticism of the Copemican theory. Galileo saw himself confronted by self-appointed clerical spokesmen who would extend the authority of the Bible and the Holy Fathers even in purely physical matters where faith is not involved.
