In a startling reinterpretation of the evidence, Stillman Drake advances the hypothesis that Galileo's trial and condemnation by the Inquisition was caused not by his defiance of the Church, but by the hostility of contemporary philosophers. Galileo's own beautifully lucid arguments are used to show how his scientific method was utterly divorced from the Aristotelian approach to physics in that it was based on a search not for causes but for laws. Galileo's method was of over whelming significance for the development of modern physics, and led to a final parting of the ways between science and philosophy. This book is intended for students from sixth-form level upwards studying the history of science/science and philosophy.