Persecution of philosophers

Philosophers throughout the history of philosophy have been held in courts and tribunals for various offenses, often as a result of their philosophical activity, and some have even been put to death. The most famous example of a philosopher being put on trial is the case of Socrates, who was tried for, amongst other charges, corrupting the youth and impiety.[1]

Socrates

The trial of Socrates took place in 399 BC. Attended by the Ancient Greek philosophers Plato (who was a student of Socrates') and Xenophon, it resulted in the death of Socrates, who was sentenced to drink the poison hemlock. The trial is chronicled in the Platonic dialogues Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo.

Hypatia

Hypatia (c. 350–370 - 415) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was murdered by a mob of Christians.

Giordano Bruno

Giordano Bruno was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, poet, cosmological theorist, and Hermetic occultist,[2] known for his cosmological theories, which conceptually extended the then-novel Copernican model, proposing that the stars were distant suns surrounded by their own planets, raising the possibility that these planets might foster life of their own (a cosmological position known as cosmic pluralism), and insisting that the universe is infinite and could have no "center".

Starting in 1593, Bruno was tried for heresy by the Roman Inquisition on charges of denial of several core Catholic doctrines, including eternal damnation, the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the virginity of Mary, and transubstantiation. Bruno's pantheism was not taken lightly by the church,[3] nor was his teaching of the transmigration of the soul and reincarnation. The Inquisition found him guilty, and he was burned at the stake in Rome's Campo de' Fiori in 1600. After his death, he gained considerable fame, being particularly celebrated by 19th- and early 20th-century commentators who regarded him as a martyr for science, although most historians agree that his heresy trial was not a response to his cosmological views but rather a response to his religious views.[4][5][6][7][8] However some recent research[9] suggests that main reason for Bruno's death indeed was his cosmological views. Bruno's case is still considered a landmark in the history of free thought and the emerging sciences.[10][11]

Tommaso Campanella

Tommaso Campanella was confined to a convent for his heretical views, namely, an opposition to the authority of Aristotle. Later, he then spent twenty-seven years imprisoned in a castle during which he wrote his most famous works, including The City of the Sun.[12]

Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza, was a Jewish philosopher who, at age 23, was put in cherem (similar to excommunication) by Jewish religious authorities for heresies such as his controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible (which would form the foundations of modern biblical criticism) and his pantheistic views of the Divine.[13] Prior to that, he had been attacked on the steps of the community synagogue by a knife-wielding assailant shouting "Heretic!",[14] and later his books were added to the Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books. In June 1678 - just over a year after Spinoza's death - the States of Holland banned his entire works, since they “contain very many profane, blasphemous and atheistic propositions.” The prohibition included the owning, reading, distribution, copying, and restating of Spinoza's books, and even the reworking of his fundamental ideas.[15]

References

"What Was the Charge Against Socrates?" Retrieved September 1, 2009
Gatti, Hilary. Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science: Broken Lives and Organizational Power. Cornell University Press, 2002, 1, ISBN 0-801-48785-4
Birx, H. James. "Giordano Bruno" The Harbinger, Mobile, AL, 11 November 1997. "Bruno was burned to death at the stake for his pantheistic stance and cosmic perspective."
Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964, p. 450
Michael J. Crowe, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750–1900, Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 10, "[Bruno's] sources... seem to have been more numerous than his followers, at least until the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revival of interest in Bruno as a supposed 'martyr for science.' It is true that he was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600, but the church authorities guilty of this action were almost certainly more distressed at his denial of Christ's divinity and alleged diabolism than at his cosmological doctrines."
Adam Frank (2009). The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate, University of California Press, p. 24, "Though Bruno may have been a brilliant thinker whose work stands as a bridge between ancient and modern thought, his persecution cannot be seen solely in light of the war between science and religion."
White, Michael (2002). The Pope and the Heretic: The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition, p. 7. Perennial, New York. "This was perhaps the most dangerous notion of all... If other worlds existed with intelligent beings living there, did they too have their visitations? The idea was quite unthinkable."
Shackelford, Joel (2009). "Myth 7 That Giordano Bruno was the first martyr of modern science". In Numbers, Ronald L. (ed.). Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 66. "Yet the fact remains that cosmological matters, notably the plurality of worlds, were an identifiable concern all along and appear in the summary document: Bruno was repeatedly questioned on these matters, and he apparently refused to recant them at the end.14 So, Bruno probably was burned alive for resolutely maintaining a series of heresies, among which his teaching of the plurality of worlds was prominent but by no means singular."
Martínez, Alberto A. (2018). Burned Alive: Giordano Bruno, Galileo and the Inquisition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-1780238968.
Gatti, Hilary (2002). Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science: Broken Lives and Organizational Power. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0801487859. Retrieved 21 March 2014. For Bruno was claiming for the philosopher a principle of free thought and inquiry which implied an entirely new concept of authority: that of the individual intellect in its serious and continuing pursuit of an autonomous inquiry… It is impossible to understand the issue involved and to evaluate justly the stand made by Bruno with his life without appreciating the question of free thought and liberty of expression. His insistence on placing this issue at the center of both his work and of his defense is why Bruno remains so much a figure of the modern world. If there is, as many have argued, an intrinsic link between science and liberty of inquiry, then Bruno was among those who guaranteed the future of the newly emerging sciences, as well as claiming in wider terms a general principle of free thought and expression.
Montano, Aniello (2007). Antonio Gargano (ed.). Le deposizioni davanti al tribunale dell'Inquisizione. Napoli: La Città del Sole. p. 71. In Rome, Bruno was imprisoned for seven years and subjected to a difficult trial that analyzed, minutely, all his philosophical ideas. Bruno, who in Venice had been willing to recant some theses, become increasingly resolute and declared on 21 December 1599 that he 'did not wish to repent of having too little to repent, and in fact did not know what to repent.' Declared an unrepentant heretic and excommunicated, he was burned alive in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome on Ash Wednesday, 17 February 1600. On the stake, along with Bruno, burned the hopes of many, including philosophers and scientists of good faith like Galileo, who thought they could reconcile religious faith and scientific research, while belonging to an ecclesiastical organization declaring itself to be the custodian of absolute truth and maintaining a cultural militancy requiring continual commitment and suspicion.
"Tommaso Campanella" - first published Wed Aug 31, 2005" at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved September 1, 2009
- Scruton, Roger (2002). Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-19-280316-0.
- Nadler, Steven M. (2001). Spinoza: A Life. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2, 7, 120. ISBN 978-0-521-00293-6.
- Smith, Steven B. (2003). Spinoza's Book of Life: Freedom and Redemption in the Ethics. Yale University Press. p. xx. ISBN 978-0-300-12849-9.
- Nadler, Steven (2020). "Baruch Spinoza". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.
- Spinoza, Benedictus de (4 September 1989). Tractatus Theologico-Politicus: Gebhardt Edition 1925. BRILL. ISBN 9004090991. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via Google Books.
Scruton, Roger (2002). Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-19-280316-0.
See: Jonathan Israel, “The Banning of Spinoza's Works in the Dutch Republic (1670–1678)”, in: Wiep van Bunge and Wim Klever (eds.) Disguised and Overt Spinozism around 1700 (Leiden, 1996), 3-14 (online).

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[1] "What Was the Charge Against Socrates?" Retrieved September 1, 2009

[2] Gatti, Hilary. Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science: Broken Lives and Organizational Power. Cornell University Press, 2002, 1, ISBN 0-801-48785-4

[3] Birx, H. James. "Giordano Bruno" The Harbinger, Mobile, AL, 11 November 1997. "Bruno was burned to death at the stake for his pantheistic stance and cosmic perspective."

[4] Frances Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1964, p. 450

[5] Michael J. Crowe, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750–1900, Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 10, "[Bruno's] sources... seem to have been more numerous than his followers, at least until the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revival of interest in Bruno as a supposed 'martyr for science.' It is true that he was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600, but the church authorities guilty of this action were almost certainly more distressed at his denial of Christ's divinity and alleged diabolism than at his cosmological doctrines."

[6] Adam Frank (2009). The Constant Fire: Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate, University of California Press, p. 24, "Though Bruno may have been a brilliant thinker whose work stands as a bridge between ancient and modern thought, his persecution cannot be seen solely in light of the war between science and religion."

[7] White, Michael (2002). The Pope and the Heretic: The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition, p. 7. Perennial, New York. "This was perhaps the most dangerous notion of all... If other worlds existed with intelligent beings living there, did they too have their visitations? The idea was quite unthinkable."

[8] Shackelford, Joel (2009). "Myth 7 That Giordano Bruno was the first martyr of modern science". In Numbers, Ronald L. (ed.). Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 66. "Yet the fact remains that cosmological matters, notably the plurality of worlds, were an identifiable concern all along and appear in the summary document: Bruno was repeatedly questioned on these matters, and he apparently refused to recant them at the end.14 So, Bruno probably was burned alive for resolutely maintaining a series of heresies, among which his teaching of the plurality of worlds was prominent but by no means singular."

[9] Martínez, Alberto A. (2018). Burned Alive: Giordano Bruno, Galileo and the Inquisition. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-1780238968.

[gatti18-10] Gatti, Hilary (2002). Giordano Bruno and Renaissance Science: Broken Lives and Organizational Power. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0801487859. Retrieved 21 March 2014. For Bruno was claiming for the philosopher a principle of free thought and inquiry which implied an entirely new concept of authority: that of the individual intellect in its serious and continuing pursuit of an autonomous inquiry… It is impossible to understand the issue involved and to evaluate justly the stand made by Bruno with his life without appreciating the question of free thought and liberty of expression. His insistence on placing this issue at the center of both his work and of his defense is why Bruno remains so much a figure of the modern world. If there is, as many have argued, an intrinsic link between science and liberty of inquiry, then Bruno was among those who guaranteed the future of the newly emerging sciences, as well as claiming in wider terms a general principle of free thought and expression.

[montano1-11] Montano, Aniello (2007). Antonio Gargano (ed.). Le deposizioni davanti al tribunale dell'Inquisizione. Napoli: La Città del Sole. p. 71. In Rome, Bruno was imprisoned for seven years and subjected to a difficult trial that analyzed, minutely, all his philosophical ideas. Bruno, who in Venice had been willing to recant some theses, become increasingly resolute and declared on 21 December 1599 that he 'did not wish to repent of having too little to repent, and in fact did not know what to repent.' Declared an unrepentant heretic and excommunicated, he was burned alive in the Campo dei Fiori in Rome on Ash Wednesday, 17 February 1600. On the stake, along with Bruno, burned the hopes of many, including philosophers and scientists of good faith like Galileo, who thought they could reconcile religious faith and scientific research, while belonging to an ecclesiastical organization declaring itself to be the custodian of absolute truth and maintaining a cultural militancy requiring continual commitment and suspicion.

[12] "Tommaso Campanella" - first published Wed Aug 31, 2005" at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Retrieved September 1, 2009

[13] Scruton, Roger (2002). Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-19-280316-0.

Nadler, Steven M. (2001). Spinoza: A Life. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2, 7, 120. ISBN 978-0-521-00293-6.

Smith, Steven B. (2003). Spinoza's Book of Life: Freedom and Redemption in the Ethics. Yale University Press. p. xx. ISBN 978-0-300-12849-9.

Nadler, Steven (2020). "Baruch Spinoza". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.

Spinoza, Benedictus de (4 September 1989). Tractatus Theologico-Politicus: Gebhardt Edition 1925. BRILL. ISBN 9004090991. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via Google Books.

[14] Scruton, Roger (2002). Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-19-280316-0.

[15] Nadler, Steven M. (2001). Spinoza: A Life. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2, 7, 120. ISBN 978-0-521-00293-6.

[16] Smith, Steven B. (2003). Spinoza's Book of Life: Freedom and Redemption in the Ethics. Yale University Press. p. xx. ISBN 978-0-300-12849-9.

[17] Nadler, Steven (2020). "Baruch Spinoza". The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.

[18] Spinoza, Benedictus de (4 September 1989). Tractatus Theologico-Politicus: Gebhardt Edition 1925. BRILL. ISBN 9004090991. Retrieved 4 September 2019 – via Google Books.

[14] Scruton, Roger (2002). Spinoza: A Very Short Introduction. OUP Oxford. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-19-280316-0.

[15] See: Jonathan Israel, “The Banning of Spinoza's Works in the Dutch Republic (1670–1678)”, in: Wiep van Bunge and Wim Klever (eds.) Disguised and Overt Spinozism around 1700 (Leiden, 1996), 3-14 (online).