PHIL 211 01 - Philosophy of Science Reflection I For the trial of Galileo, I was given the role of Prince Cesi. Federico Cesi was born in Rome in 1585 and had an interest in natural science which led to his founding of the Accademia de Lincei in 1603; he abruptly died in 1630 at the age of 45. When playing Prince Cesi, I first researched his philosophies and background; using this, I knew that I could be confident when arguing for Galileo's position. For example, being from a line of royalty, I (Prince Cesi) knew I had leeway with what I could get away with to an extent when speaking on matters of astronomy to the Church, which could have led to me being called a heretic. Also, the banquet that I held allowed my fellow philosophers and me in my palace to safely spread our point of view on the matter without the threat of being verbally attacked (also, the food may have helped sway them). Nonetheless, I acted confident and knowledgeable and avoided arguing or sharing my opinion to stand my ground against the other factions throughout the game. While I did not give a speech like my peers in my faction, I discussed with them on different occasions how we could present ourselves during the trial and gave advice on what they could say in their speeches. Furthermore, during discussions after other factions had their speeches, I would counteract with my research that I found or point out discrepancies that I may have noticed. Also, I pointed out to the holy office of one cardinal's lateness to the trial, conveying how it was disrespectful to Galileo and the Holy Office themselves as they were holding the trial to put our faction more in favour. Moving on, I held a banquet with all the factions invited. I laid out delicious food native to Italy, such as grapes plucked from my personal vineyard for everyone to graze. During my banquet, I showcased my telescope (which Galileo had invented) to convey how the moon was not perfect like the philosopher Aristotle has argued and how Galileo found empirical evidence to support his findings as well
as Copernicus's philosophy. Afterwards, Lincean Rome Professor Kucera illustrated with inflated pigs' skin how the light from the sun can play tricks on our eyes with the moon and that shadows are there because of the mountains and again not because the moon is spherically perfect. I also had a quiet talk with Cardinal Bellarmine about their letter on Aquinas's discussion of stars and their letter to Father Foscarini. I urged him to remember his writings and consider them when deciding Galileo's fate. Afterwards, I took everyone in attendance of my banquet to my personal library, where I allowed them to browse my books (noting that some may be heretical, but I do not align myself to their teachings) and if they had any questions. My servant also wished to hand out his personal