"I must have recourse to a Philosophical distinction, and say that the understanding is to be taken two ways, that is intensivè, or extensivè; and that extensive, that is, as to the multitude of intelligibles, which are infinite, the understanding of man is as nothing, though he should understand a thousand propositions; for that a thousand, in respect of infinity is but as a cypher: but taking the understanding intensive, (in as much as that term imports) intensively, that is, perfectly some propositions, I say, that humane wisdom understandeth some propositions so perfectly, and is as absolutely certain thereof, as Nature herself; and such are the pure Mathematical sciences, to wit, Geometry and Arithmetick: in which Divine Wisdom knows infinite more propositions, because it knows them all; but I believe that the knowledge of those few comprehended by humane understanding, equalleth the divine, as to the certainty objectivè, for that it arriveth to comprehend the necessity thereof, than which there can be no greater certainty."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Salviati, p. 86.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Systeme_of_the_World%3A_in_Four_Dialogues
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
The Systeme of the World: in Four Dialogues
The Systeme of the World: in Four Dialogues is the original 1661 English translation, by Thomas Salusbury, of Galileo Galilei's DIALOGO sopra i due MASSI SISTEMI DEL MONDO (1632). Galileo's publication is more generally recognized under the title of Stilman Drake's English translation, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, published in 1953. A revised and annotated edition of the Salusbury translation was also introduced in 1953 by Giorgio de Santillana under the title Dialogue on the
81 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by The Systeme of the World: in Four Dialogues →
Related Quotes
"I thought fit... to appear openly upon the theatre of the World as a witness of the naked truth."
"It is my resolution... to give foreign nations to see of this matter... And, collecting all the speculations of mine …"
"I have personated the Copernican... proceeding upon the hypothesis purely mathematical; striving by every artifice to…"
"I will endeavour to show that all experiments that can be made upon the Earth are insufficient means to conclude for …"
"We will examine the celestial phenomena that make for the Copernican hypothesis, as if it were to prove absolutely vi…"
"I will propose an ingenious fancy. ...the unknown problem of the tides might receive some light, admitting of the Ear…"
"I hope that by these considerations the world will come to know that, if other nations have navigated more than we, w…"
"Neither one nor the other doth follow, for that both the assertions may be true. The Oracle adjudged Socrates the wi…"
"I chanced, many years ago, as I lived in the stupendous city of Venice, to converse frequently with the Signor Giovan…"
"Judicious Reader, There was published some years since in Rome a salutiferous edict which... imposed a seaonable sile…"