Signs of the Times

Galileo

Little did I know that Galileo Galielei--philosopher, astronomer, scientist--was, as my philosophy textbook puts it, "An exact contemporary of Shakespeare."  While studying philosophy, I serendipitously found myself learning about the life and times of Shakespeare.  Maybe a more appropriate title for this post would be, "Things I learned about Shakespeare by learning about Galileo."

Galileo's story is fascinating, and there are two characteristics of the time period that I gleaned from reading his history:

1) The Catholic religion completed dominated all facets of the culture of the time--Galileo spent almost the last ten years of his life on house arrest because of the Inquisition.

2) Science and philosophy were exploding with new discoveries and theories that serve as a framework for a lot of what we know today.  Just for example: Galileo discovered four moons of Jupiter, the mountains of the moon, and variable spots on the sun.

Good ol' Bill

I say Galileo's story is fascinating, and I mean that based on what we know about the world and our solar system now.  Galileo supported Copernican theory of the "heliocentric world view" (that the earth revolves around the sun), and he was charged with heresy because of his beliefs.  I know hindsight is 20/20, but the arguments of the Catholic church are no match for the scientific research he conducted.  

Now, connecting Galileo back to Shakespeare.  Galileo's work seemed to dig straight down to the true nature of the universe, uncovering the foundation of our understanding of the physical world.  I think, in a similar way, Shakespeare did the same--he uncovered the true nature of individuals, digging straight down to the foundation of our understanding of human motivations.  And if I'm right, then my study of Galileo has led me to just one of the reasons why Shakespeare's writing is timeless.