Interview – Sebastian Major on Galileo and History Myths
My guest today is Sebastian Major, writer and presenter of the excellent “Our Fake History” podcast. Sebastian recently presented a three part episode on the Galileo Affair, debunking the many historical myths surrounding Galileo. He did a fine job, but he also took on board some criticisms I had of what he said. And so he was also happy to come on “History for Atheists” to discuss Galileo, how hard it is to get complex history right and some thoughts about the persistence of bad history in the popular sphere.
I highly recommend Sebastian’s work on “Our Fake History” and would encourage everyone to subscribe and listen to Sebastian’s work. On Galileo, there is my three part interview with Thony Christie which goes into what really happened and why in some depth. And there is also my article on the theological background and some myths about the 1633 trial.
For those who prefer the audio version, the Podcast edition is now up on Buzzsprout or available on most podcast platforms. Or you can listen to it on the History for Atheists podcast page.
6 thoughts on “Interview – Sebastian Major on Galileo and History Myths”
Exquisite and erudite content Tim. You have wrote prolifically about Feudalism before and how it is was built upon political and and economic needs rather than religious ones. I cheerfully much await an eventual detailed article breaking down the High School level Feudalism Myth, the cartoon caricature that polemicists love to cite for rhetorical effect to demonstrate how “controlling” and “dominant” the Catholic Church was, often used in conjunction with other garbled nonsense.
Thank you for the recommendation! I’ve listened to the first five episodes of “Our Fake History” by now and I am hooked – looking forward to the next 164 episodes. Sebastian Major manages the balancing act of appreciating the allure of historical myths while simultaneously debunking them.
Saw your question bout Engles’ myth.
A few slightly older places where you see it is in Roberta Altman in The Quintessential Cat and Morris B. Holbrook in Consumer Research.
Gino Pugnetti and Mordecai Siegal in Simon and Schuster’s Guide from the 80s to Cats only sticks to cat burning. Looks like this grew slowly over a decade, unless it’s one of those things that came out of crazy magazines or news letters.
On the Galileo myths. Someone tried to reference this slanted & inaccurate version of events (this time from what Imthink is some legal academic) that clearly dates from back in the HTML webpage days:
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/galileoaccount.html
Now I know that this webpage is not current and not as contemporarily high profile as Sam Harris or AronRa. But I have to wonder if this is an ultimate source for this misinformation about Galileo? And also wonder if Tim has come across this before?
It’s been a while since I read the account of the trial etc. on that page, But I remember it as being more emotional and, yes, slanted than actually “inaccurate”. Skim reading it again, it seems to get most of the key detail right.
Found this excellent web page that debunks all the myths about Galileo https://www.scientus.org/Galileo-Myths.html https://www.scientus.org/Copernicus-Myths.html