Tommaso Campanella, 1568–1639

Tommaso Campanella was an Italian philosopher and astrologer who at one point in his life was denounced by the Catholic Inquisition for heresy.  He supported freedom of thought in scientific investigation, much to the chagrin of those who espoused complete adherence to the “holy scriptures” instead.  In 1622 he published Apologia pro Galileo (“Defense of Galileo”) in which he promoted the Copernican view of our solar system.  Campanella held a Neoplatonic view of nature and was very concerned that metaphysics be built upon a clear theory of knowledge.