Author: Pierre Connes
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030414504
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
Modern research has demonstrated that many stars are surrounded by planets—some of which might contain the right conditions to harbor life. This has only reinforced a question that has been tormenting scientists, philosophers and priests since Antiquity: Are there other inhabited worlds beyond our own? This book analyzes the many ways that humans have argued for and depicted extraterrestrial life over the centuries. The first known texts about the subject date from as early as the 6th century BC. Since that time, countless well-known historical characters like Lucretius, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Cusanus, Bruno, Kepler, Descartes, and Huygens contributed to the debate; here, their lesser known opinions on the subject are studied in detail. It is often difficult for the modern mind to follow the thinking of our ancestors, which can only be understood when placed in the relevant context. The book thus extends its scope to the evolution of ideas about cosmology in general, as well as the culture in which these great thinkers wrote. The research is presented with the author's insights and humor, making this an easy and enjoyable read.
History of the Plurality of Worlds
Author: Pierre Connes
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030414504
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
Modern research has demonstrated that many stars are surrounded by planets—some of which might contain the right conditions to harbor life. This has only reinforced a question that has been tormenting scientists, philosophers and priests since Antiquity: Are there other inhabited worlds beyond our own? This book analyzes the many ways that humans have argued for and depicted extraterrestrial life over the centuries. The first known texts about the subject date from as early as the 6th century BC. Since that time, countless well-known historical characters like Lucretius, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Cusanus, Bruno, Kepler, Descartes, and Huygens contributed to the debate; here, their lesser known opinions on the subject are studied in detail. It is often difficult for the modern mind to follow the thinking of our ancestors, which can only be understood when placed in the relevant context. The book thus extends its scope to the evolution of ideas about cosmology in general, as well as the culture in which these great thinkers wrote. The research is presented with the author's insights and humor, making this an easy and enjoyable read.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030414504
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
Modern research has demonstrated that many stars are surrounded by planets—some of which might contain the right conditions to harbor life. This has only reinforced a question that has been tormenting scientists, philosophers and priests since Antiquity: Are there other inhabited worlds beyond our own? This book analyzes the many ways that humans have argued for and depicted extraterrestrial life over the centuries. The first known texts about the subject date from as early as the 6th century BC. Since that time, countless well-known historical characters like Lucretius, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Cusanus, Bruno, Kepler, Descartes, and Huygens contributed to the debate; here, their lesser known opinions on the subject are studied in detail. It is often difficult for the modern mind to follow the thinking of our ancestors, which can only be understood when placed in the relevant context. The book thus extends its scope to the evolution of ideas about cosmology in general, as well as the culture in which these great thinkers wrote. The research is presented with the author's insights and humor, making this an easy and enjoyable read.
On the Plurality of Worlds
Author: David Lewis
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631224266
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
This book is a defense of modal realism; the thesis that our world is but one of a plurality of worlds, and that the individuals that inhabit our world are only a few out of all the inhabitants of all the worlds. Lewis argues that the philosophical utility of modal realism is a good reason for believing that it is true.
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631224266
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288
Book Description
This book is a defense of modal realism; the thesis that our world is but one of a plurality of worlds, and that the individuals that inhabit our world are only a few out of all the inhabitants of all the worlds. Lewis argues that the philosophical utility of modal realism is a good reason for believing that it is true.
The Plurality of Worlds ...
Author: William Whewell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Book Description
Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
Author: M. de Fontenelle (Bernard Le Bovier)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
Plurality of Words
Author: Steven J. Dick
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521319850
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
This book analyses the debate over extraterrestrial life from Aristotle to Kant.
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521319850
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260
Book Description
This book analyses the debate over extraterrestrial life from Aristotle to Kant.
On the Plurality of Actual Worlds
Author: Andrew L. Blais
Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Press
ISBN: 9781558490727
Category : Pluralism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Challenging the thesis that there is only one world, the author builds on Immanuel Kant's notion of metaphysical inversion to develop his idea that a world is the sum total of what exists in a particular time. In arguing that there are many representing beings, actual worlds, and truths, the author addresses ontological questions raised by Protagoras, Plato, and numerous contemporary philosophers. He concludes that there is no social and political reality independent of perspective. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Press
ISBN: 9781558490727
Category : Pluralism
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Challenging the thesis that there is only one world, the author builds on Immanuel Kant's notion of metaphysical inversion to develop his idea that a world is the sum total of what exists in a particular time. In arguing that there are many representing beings, actual worlds, and truths, the author addresses ontological questions raised by Protagoras, Plato, and numerous contemporary philosophers. He concludes that there is no social and political reality independent of perspective. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Space and Pluralism
Author: Stefano Moroni
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633861268
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
This book addresses the social, functional and symbolic dimensions of urban space in today's world. The twelve essays are grouped in three parts, ranging from a conceptual framework to case descriptions rich with illustrations. They provide a valuable service in exploring the nature and significance of social space and particular aspects of its contemporary distribution and contestation. The book addresses a topic that is intrinsically interdisciplinary. Questions of space are examined from a rich variety of disciplinary perspectives in a welcome range from urban planning to political philosophy, shedding a good deal of light in the process. The issues in focus include the dichotomies of public and private space, discussion of rights and duties with regard to the use of space, or conflicts over its allocation. Well reasoned and presented discussion is offered from the perspective of basic values and rights. The policy issue of institutional recognition of the specifics of (minority community) identity is raised in opposition to abstract distributive accounts of justice.
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633861268
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Book Description
This book addresses the social, functional and symbolic dimensions of urban space in today's world. The twelve essays are grouped in three parts, ranging from a conceptual framework to case descriptions rich with illustrations. They provide a valuable service in exploring the nature and significance of social space and particular aspects of its contemporary distribution and contestation. The book addresses a topic that is intrinsically interdisciplinary. Questions of space are examined from a rich variety of disciplinary perspectives in a welcome range from urban planning to political philosophy, shedding a good deal of light in the process. The issues in focus include the dichotomies of public and private space, discussion of rights and duties with regard to the use of space, or conflicts over its allocation. Well reasoned and presented discussion is offered from the perspective of basic values and rights. The policy issue of institutional recognition of the specifics of (minority community) identity is raised in opposition to abstract distributive accounts of justice.
Worlds Without End
Author: Mary-Jane Rubenstein
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231156626
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
“Multiverse” cosmologies imagine our universe as just one of a vast number of others. While this idea has captivated philosophy, religion, and literature for millennia, it is now being considered as a scientific hypothesis—with different models emerging from cosmology, quantum mechanics, and string theory. Beginning with ancient Atomist and Stoic philosophies, Mary-Jane Rubenstein links contemporary models of the multiverse to their forerunners and explores their current emergence. One reason is the so-called fine-tuning of the universe: nature’s constants are so delicately calibrated, it seems they have been set just right to allow life to emerge. For some theologians, these “fine-tunings” are proof of God; for others, “God” is an insufficient explanation. One compelling solution: if all possible worlds exist somewhere, then it is no surprise one of them happens to be suitable for life. Yet this hypothesis replaces God with an equally baffling article of faith: the existence of universes beyond, before, or after our own, eternally generated yet forever inaccessible. In sidestepping metaphysics, multiverse scenarios collide with it, producing their own counter-theological narratives. Rubenstein argues, however, that this interdisciplinary collision provides the condition of its scientific viability, reconfiguring the boundaries among physics, philosophy, and religion.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231156626
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
“Multiverse” cosmologies imagine our universe as just one of a vast number of others. While this idea has captivated philosophy, religion, and literature for millennia, it is now being considered as a scientific hypothesis—with different models emerging from cosmology, quantum mechanics, and string theory. Beginning with ancient Atomist and Stoic philosophies, Mary-Jane Rubenstein links contemporary models of the multiverse to their forerunners and explores their current emergence. One reason is the so-called fine-tuning of the universe: nature’s constants are so delicately calibrated, it seems they have been set just right to allow life to emerge. For some theologians, these “fine-tunings” are proof of God; for others, “God” is an insufficient explanation. One compelling solution: if all possible worlds exist somewhere, then it is no surprise one of them happens to be suitable for life. Yet this hypothesis replaces God with an equally baffling article of faith: the existence of universes beyond, before, or after our own, eternally generated yet forever inaccessible. In sidestepping metaphysics, multiverse scenarios collide with it, producing their own counter-theological narratives. Rubenstein argues, however, that this interdisciplinary collision provides the condition of its scientific viability, reconfiguring the boundaries among physics, philosophy, and religion.
Other Worlds Than Ours
Author: Richard Anthony Proctor
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Astronomy
Languages : en
Pages : 362
Book Description
The Concept of World from Kant to Derrida
Author: Sean Gaston
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1783480025
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
In the mid-eighteenth century metaphysics was broadly understood as the study of three areas of philosophical thought: theology, psychology and cosmology. This book examines the fortunes of the third of these formidable metaphysical concepts, the world. Sean Gaston provides a clear and concise account of the concept of world from the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, exploring its possibilities and limitations and engaging with current issues in politics and ecology. He focuses on the work of five principal thinkers: Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and Derrida, all of whom attempt to establish new grounds for seeing the world as a whole. Gaston presents a critique of the self-evident use of the concept of world in philosophy and asks whether one can move beyond the need for a world-like vantage point to maintain a concept of world. From Kant to the present day this concept has been a problem for philosophy and it remains to be seen if we need a new Copernican revolution when it comes to the concept of world.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1783480025
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257
Book Description
In the mid-eighteenth century metaphysics was broadly understood as the study of three areas of philosophical thought: theology, psychology and cosmology. This book examines the fortunes of the third of these formidable metaphysical concepts, the world. Sean Gaston provides a clear and concise account of the concept of world from the mid-eighteenth century to the end of the twentieth century, exploring its possibilities and limitations and engaging with current issues in politics and ecology. He focuses on the work of five principal thinkers: Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger and Derrida, all of whom attempt to establish new grounds for seeing the world as a whole. Gaston presents a critique of the self-evident use of the concept of world in philosophy and asks whether one can move beyond the need for a world-like vantage point to maintain a concept of world. From Kant to the present day this concept has been a problem for philosophy and it remains to be seen if we need a new Copernican revolution when it comes to the concept of world.