Posted: Mar 07, 2010 1:22 am
I think Galileo was interested in parsimony and simplicity. The pre-Copernican system was just ugly. Even though the data available at the time did not differentiate cleanly between one theory and another, the Copernican theory had more aesthetic value, because of its beauty and simplicity . Such a sentiment is not invariably right, but a good rule of thumb guide that is right often enough to be useful. Galileo could have been wrong, of course, but in the future the better data vindicated him.