Extraterrestrial Life Debate, Antiquity to 1915

Jane

Description

This book presents key documents from the pre-1915 history of the extraterrestrial life debate. Introductions and commentaries accompany each source document, some of which are published here for the first time or in a new translation. Authors included are Aristotle, Lucretius, Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, Galileo, Kepler, Pascal, Fontenelle, Huygens, Newton, Pope, Voltaire, Kant, Paine, Chalmers, Darwin, Wallace, Dostoevski, Lowell, and Antoniadi, among others. Michael J. Crowe has compiled an extensive bibliography not available in other sources.

These materials reveal that the extraterrestrial life debate, rather than being a relatively modern phenomenon, has extended throughout nearly all Western history and has involved many of its leading intellectuals. The readings also demonstrate that belief in extraterrestrial life has had major effects on science and society, and that metaphysical and religious views have permeated the debate throughout much of its history.

Sujets

• Space Science
• Extraterrestrials
• Dostoevski
• Colegio Mayor Universitario Santo Tomás de Aquino
• Galileo Galilei
• Thomas Aquinas
• Philosophy
• Body (disambiguation)
• E. M. Antoniadi
• Nicholas of Cusa
• General officer
• Lucretius
• Immanuel Kant
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Darwin
• Aristotle
• Lucretii
• General
• Charles Darwin
• Paine
• Voltaire
• History
• Lowell
• Chalmers
• Wallace
• Pope
• Huygens
• Newton
• Galilée
• Fontenelle
• UFO
• Emmanuel Kant
• Johannes Kepler
• Pascal

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268076795
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

Extrait

T E H X E T R AT E R R E S T R I A L L I F E D E B A T E

T E H X E IATRESRRLARETT LIFEDEBATE A n t i q u i t y t o 1 9 1 5

A S O U R C E B O O K

edited with commentary by

M I C H A E L J. C R OW E

University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana

Copyright © 2008 by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved

Title page art: detail from drawing by J. J. Grandville of a Bridge between Worlds, fromUn Autre Monde(1844).

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Crowe, Michael J. The extraterrestrial life debate, antiquity to 1915 : a source book / edited by Michael J. Crowe. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-02368-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-02368-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Life on other planets. 2. Plurality of worlds. I. Title. QB54. C764 2008 576.8'39 —— dc22 2008026865

∞ r permanence and The paper in this book meets the guidelines fo durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

To my brother,

Patrick H. Crowe

CONTENTS

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

P A R T O N E

Antiquity to Newton

O N E The Debate in Antiquity

T W O From Augustine to the Fifteenth Century

T H R E E From Copernicus to Bruno

F O U R Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, and Pascal

xi

xiii

xv

14

3

35

51

viii c o n t e n t s

F I V E Fontenelle and Huygens

S I X Newton, Bentley, and Derham

P A R T T W O

The Eighteenth Century

S E V E N Astronomers and Extraterrestrials

E I G H T Extraterrestrials and the Enlightenment

P A R T T H R E E

From 1800 to 1860

N I N E Intensification of the Debate after 1800

T E N Before the Whewell Debate

E L E V E N Whewell’sOf the Plurality of Worldsand Responses

P A R T F O U R

From 1860 to 1915

T W E L V E New Approaches to an Ancient Question

72

109

129

182

233

297

333

369

T H I R T E E N The Late Nineteenth Century

F O U R T E E N The Controversy over the Canals of Mars

Conclusion

Appendix The History of Ideas of Extraterrestrial Life Research Program

Selected Bibliography

Permissions

Index

c o n t e n t s

438

470

518

522

526

542

544

ix