Gothic cathedral

Posted: November 29th, 2013

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Gothic cathedral

Question 1

            The Gothic cathedral demonstrates the origins-interactions-adaptations process in action from the late imperial Rome. In 313, Christians decided to worship at the Roman basilica. It had the early church design. The Romans used it previously for business activities. The church design was later adapted by the Christian churches in the west. Later on, a combination of the architectural designs during the post-Roman period resulted in the Romanesque church style. A powerful German emperor made changes to the Romanesque Church by enlarging the interior. Due to urbanization in the eleventh and twelfth century, architects made changes to the Romanesque interiors introducing the new Gothic style

The various aspects and components of a Gothic cathedral may express the faith and religious sense of a medieval European Christian by incorporating stained glass panels on the outer walls. These provide beautiful colors in the interior presenting bible stories. The stained glasses provide constant light to the church from the sacred windows.

Cultural adaptations evident in the houses of worship built today are in the Gothic style. This style is adapted today by churches in France and throughout Europe. The ribbed vault adapted from the early Islamic architecture through cultural adaptations in Sicily and Spain is evident in today’s churches.

Question 2

Archimedes theory stated that a stone sinks in water at the same speed. Galileo was able to prove this. He was also able to prove that bodies descend with the same acceleration. Using a 6.5-foot inclined grooved beam, he conducted an experiment by rolling brass balls and timing. Then he noticed that as the length increased, it followed a sequence of odd integers. From this, he concluded that the accelerating motion of a body could be mathematically proved. This shifted the descriptive science to mathematical science.

Galileo expressed his scientific views supported by Copernicus. He also expressed his biblical views in a letter addressed to the Grand Duchess. This letter expressed his views concerning use of biblical quotations in science. As a result, he faced his first church trial. Galileo challenged the Catholic Church on its notion of heaven and God. He claimed the universe to be ruled by static. The Catholic Church did not agree with this. Therefore, the new science created a conflict between Galileo and the church.

Mathematics and other rules of science do not consider the basic human experience. This is a good thing because Galileo stresses that mathematics and philosophy are inseparable. Mathematics always provides answers. He believes that the human mind is filled with mathematical knowledge that will always provide answers. Galileo considered experiments as a thing that will convince his enemies instead of acting as a research tool. He was therefore only interested at the thought of experiments but not the actual experiment. I agree with this analysis because mathematics saves humans the time of getting the experience since the humans will still possess the knowledge. They acquire this knowledge from the mathematics they possess.