Galileo Galilei, Perspective and Decentration of the Earth

Abstract

In this article I explore the relations between (i) the original response given in 1624 by Galileo Galilei to an ancient argument against the decentration of the Earth and (ii) the premises for the abstraction and representation of the space developed within the mechanical arts due to the development of the perspective in the Renaissance painting. In continuity with others’ researches, I indicate the conceptual, historical and biographical reasons that allow us to support that Galileo’s answer was indebted to such premises. Thus, I draw conclusions about the relationships between the mechanical arts and the sciences in the context of the so-called Scientific Revolution against those who deny the influence of the former on the latter.