In 1633, before the Court of the Inquisition in Rome, Galileo Galilei renounced the heliocentric system theory.
Thirteen years earlier, in 1610, Galileo published his work ‘Sidereus nuncius’ (‘Star Messenger’), in which he announced his latest discoveries, publicly expressing his support for the Copernican system for the first time.
Embarrassed and defeated by the unbridled ruling power, legend says that, at the end of the trial, he vigorously stomped his foot on the ground and muttered the famous sentence:
“Eppur si muove!”
‘And yet it moves!’ Galileo Galilei was referring to the planet Earth. Although the reigning Power proclaimed otherwise and despite the existence of other perspectives and doctrines on the System or defended by those - at the time Illustrious and respected published scholars - who were the favourites of the Lords who ruled and decided what the System was, the Earth did in fact move and revolve around the Sun and not the other way around.
In a painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, a 17th century Baroque painter, an imprisoned Galileo Galilei is depicted inside his cell, crystallising the moment when he has just engraved the phrase ‘Eppur si muove’ on the cold bare wall. We find the ‘founder of experimental analysis’ in an apprehensive and resigned state, as evidenced his left hand and an almost imperceptible shrug.
‘Eppur si’, an Italian locution which is phonetically equal to the Portuguese expression ‘É por si’ [By itself]. We explored this homophony because ‘Eppur si - Consultoria, Análise e Formação Forense, Lda.’ was created to be at Your disposal, to serve you and the interests of our clients in a capable and useful manner.
Beyond phonetic collage and a play on words, ‘Eppur si - Consultoria, Análise e Formação Forense, Lda.’ embraces the scientific spirit, combats the lack of progress which, in turn, leads to regression, and refuses to accept the World and its institutions as they are, just like those who were progressive in backward times.
We intend to shatter the status quo through independent and autonomous thought, without the tutelage of the ‘bildungphilisters’, the ‘philistines of knowledge’, a term used by Nietzsche to refer to the inauthentic pseudo-culture holders, who are shielded by dogmas and characterised by a cosmetic exposure to culture and science and recognisable by their shallowness.
The ‘philistines of knowledge’ who lack imagination, erudition and culture are all the more nefarious for the positions of Power they occupy in our society: judicial and/or political decision-makers, pseudo-scientists, outdated and retrograde organisations that do not allow scrutiny, healthy constructive criticism, open discussion and intellectual honesty.
The daring reference to Galileo and to the sentence, for many apocryphal, that he uttered during his abjuration, is easy for us to make and even easier to justify.
Also in ‘Eppur si - Consultoria, Análise e Formação Forense, Lda’, we had the valuable opportunity to experience prison, although we did not abjure or retract anything that was said or done.
Also in ‘Eppur si - Consultoria, Análise e Formação Forense, Lda.’, during its first year, after completing the first project, we felt the System defending itself, fighting back by resorting to the Power it holds within itself, not allowing scrutiny, scientific discussion, but, on the contrary, opting to pressure, coerce, criticise, trying to stifle the dissenting voice, the curious spirit and the enquiry, subjecting the elements of ‘Eppur si’ to trial - 3/20.9 GCVFX - only because we dared to cast doubt on the sacrosanct infallibility of the Portuguese judicial system.
The services we provide are based on theoretical experience accumulated over 18 years of service in the Portuguese Criminal Police (Polícia Judiciária): not the experience of ‘too much accumulation of particulars’, but the thought-out, ‘forged’ experience (by the best ‘Popperian’ method) sublimated by the test of resistance to sceptical empiricism.
At ‘Eppur si - Consultoria, Análise e Formação Forense, Lda’, we apply our energy, know-how and knowledge to investigate the phenomena, improve the state of the ‘res publica’ and make it intelligible and accessible to all.
We recognise that the way human beings see the world is decisively influenced by emotional linearity and the standardisation of expected behaviours and thoughts. Our institutions are unprepared for ‘non-linearities’, for subjects or organisations that challenge, contest and question. The average person comfortably chooses to believe without questioning, is a willing slave to confirmation bias, and feels safe when held hostage to the narrative fallacy. Sooner or later, institutions will inevitably take advantage and become authoritarian, contributing to the emergence of a harmful totalitarian society.
These studied phenomena, this human predisposition, far too humane, harms the development of a democratic, egalitarian and progressive society, and all this is translated and manifested in the insidious hidden corrosion of one of the fundamental cornerstones of society: Justice.
‘Eppur si - Consultoria, Análise e Formação Forense, Lda.’ was born from the need to reinforce this fundamental cornerstone - Justice -, to contribute to this reinforcement, to help those facing trial - i.e. our Clients -, whether as a Defendant, Victim, Witness, Expert or Decision Maker, by the Justice system and/or its injustice.