PartI: Watch the Film Galileo’s trail? Days that shook the world. Why was the Catholic Church in a position to put Galileo on trail? What was the relationship between church and state at that time?...

PartI:

Watch the Film Galileo’s trail? Days that shook the world. Why was the Catholic Church in a position to put Galileo on trail? What was the relationship between church and state at that time? And what influence did the Protestant Reformation on Pope Urban VII’s decision to prosecute Galileo?

Part II: Because an intellectual movement and a scientific revolution occurred during that same period, thinkers such as thomas Hobbes and john Locke began to discuss man’s place in the state of nature (a natural place before governments or the social contract was formed). Hobbes made a case for permanency of absolutism - regardless of whether it was wielded a king or a parliament. His argument had to do with the nature of human beings. In a state of nature, Hobbes argued man is brutish, nasty and self interested. He will rape and kill his neighbor if it serves his interests to do so. Only absolute authority in the form of a social contract can maintain cal and prevent such chaos. Locke, on the other hand, took issue with this. He argued that man in a state of nature is neither good nor bad, but learns behavior with experiences. His focus was on the nature of the social contract itself. Locke objected to the idea of absolutism and made a strong case for constitutional government- a social contract that is revocable. Humans are basically good, he argued, and can be trusted to do the right thing with the proper socialization and training.