History of the Plurality of Worlds

History of the Plurality of Worlds PDF Author: Pierre Connes
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030414485
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Get Book Here

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

History of the Plurality of Worlds PDF Author: Pierre Connes
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030414485
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 414

Get Book Here

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.

Of the Plurality of Worlds, an essay. [By W. Whewell.]

Of the Plurality of Worlds, an essay. [By W. Whewell.] PDF Author: William Whewell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Get Book Here

Book Description


Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds

Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds PDF Author: M. de Fontenelle (Bernard Le Bovier)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Plurality of worlds
Languages : en
Pages : 178

Get Book Here

Book Description


On the Plurality of Worlds

On the Plurality of Worlds PDF Author: David Lewis
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN: 9780631224266
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

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.

Plurality of Words

Plurality of Words PDF Author: Steven J. Dick
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521319850
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book analyses the debate over extraterrestrial life from Aristotle to Kant.

The Plurality of Realities

The Plurality of Realities PDF Author: Leon Chwistek
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788323344360
Category : Reality
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Plurality of Realities contains four texts by Leon Chwistek that deal with his original philosophical conception called the theory of plurality of realities. This collection is essential not only for understanding the full-fledged version of Chwistek's conception but also for surveying its development over a span of five years (1916-1921). Reading these essays in chronological order allows us to notice all stages of its development, beginning with its first sketches, drawn in the book Meaning and Reality, where only two realities are considered, and finishing with Chwistek's most famous essay, The Plurality of Realities, in which he discusses four different realities: the reality of things, the reality of physics, the reality of impressions, and the reality of imaginations. The collection is preceded by two introductory essays by Karol Chrobak. The first presents Leon Chwistek against the background of the intellectual, cultural, and political life of the interwar period in Poland. The second focuses on Chwistek's conception of the plurality of realities and gives a critical account of its most widespread interpretations.

The Concept of World from Kant to Derrida

The Concept of World from Kant to Derrida PDF Author: Sean Gaston
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1783480025
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

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.

Truth and History in the Ancient World

Truth and History in the Ancient World PDF Author: Lisa Hau
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317558049
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 531

Get Book Here

Book Description
This collection of essays investigates histories in the ancient world and the extent to which the producers and consumers of those histories believed them to be true. Ancient Greek historiographers repeatedly stressed the importance of truth to history; yet they also purported to believe in myth, distorted facts for nationalistic or moralizing purposes, and omitted events that modern audiences might consider crucial to a truthful account of the past. Truth and History in the Ancient World explores a pluralistic concept of truth – one in which different versions of the same historical event can all be true – or different kinds of truths and modes of belief are contingent on culture. Beginning with comparisons between historiography and aspects of belief in Greek tragedy, chapters include discussions of historiography through the works of Herodotus, Xenophon, and Ktesias, as well as Hellenistic and later historiography, material culture in Vitruvius, and Lucian’s satire. Rather than investigate whether historiography incorporates elements of poetic, rhetorical, or narrative techniques to shape historical accounts, or whether cultural memory is flexible or manipulated, this volume examines pluralities of truth and belief within the ancient world – and consequences for our understanding of culture, ancient or otherwise.

The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900

The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900 PDF Author: Michael J. Crowe
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486145018
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 724

Get Book Here

Book Description
Detailed, scholarly study examines the ideas that developed between 1750 and 1900 regarding the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life, including those of Kant, Herschel, Voltaire, Lowell, many others. 16 illustrations.

Plurality and Ambiguity

Plurality and Ambiguity PDF Author: David Tracy
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226811263
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Plurality and Ambiguity, David Tracy lays the philosophical groundwork for a practical application of hermeneutics, while constructing an innovative model of theological interpretation developed out of the notions of conversation and argument. He concludes with an appraisal of the religious significance of hope in an age of radically different voices and constantly shifting meanings.