Foundations of an Idea: Galileo and Freedom of Expression.

This paper examines the origins of the principle of free expression as worked out by Galileo. It is intended to supplement standard histories of the development of free expression and to recover its history as part of the political project of postmodernism. The paper resurrects Galileo's encounters with entrenched beliefs in order to position free expression historically as an ideal that arose with the secularization of thought and the birth of modern science in the seventeenth century. Noting that in many respects Galileo's worldview is distinctly premodern, the paper concludes that many of the principles first articulated by Galileo are now deeply ingrained ideals of Western culture. Eighteen references are attached. (RS)