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plurality of inhabited worlds
Also known as: plurality of inhabited worlds, plurality of worlds
Facts (19)
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Extraterrestrial Intelligence and the Catholic Faith: A Brief History of ... catholicscientists.org 11 facts
accountEarly Christian thinkers were aware of the pagan philosophical discussions regarding the plurality of worlds and continued the conversation by incorporating insights from the apostolic tradition of the Church.
claimGrant McColley and H. W. Miller concluded that while William Vorilong is the earliest theologian noted to discuss the doctrine of a plurality of worlds, other theologians likely preceded him.
accountBy the end of the fifteenth century, the theological conversation regarding the plurality of worlds shifted focus from speculations about multiple entire universes to the possibility of multiple inhabited worlds within our own universe.
claimMedieval Christian philosophers who objected to the "plurality of worlds" did so based on the cosmological model of pre-Christian Greek natural philosophy rather than Christian revelation.
claimThe concept of 'the plurality of worlds' in ancient Greek philosophy originally referred to multiple entire universes coexisting independently, each with its own earth and celestial bodies, rather than multiple planets within a single universe.
claimThe medieval thinkers William of Ockham, Jean Buridan, and Nicole Oresme concluded that there is no plurality of worlds in the sense of multiple entire universes, though their critiques identified weaknesses in the arguments of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas.
claimSurviving documents from the Early Middle Ages show little speculation on the plurality of worlds, though the debate regarding the implications for extraterrestrial intelligent life continued.
claimOrigen's notion of a plurality of worlds imagined them not as simultaneous, spatially separated worlds, but as multiple universes occurring in succession through time.
claimThinkers within the atomist tradition of Greek philosophy concluded that a plurality of worlds exists.
accountIn 1863, Parisian preacher Père Joseph Félix announced to the Catholic faithful at Notre Dame Cathedral that the existence of a plurality of worlds was compatible with Christian beliefs.
claimPlato rejected the idea of a plurality of worlds but proposed that stars are living creatures, each possessing a soul.
Extraterrestrial life - Inters.org inters.org 6 facts
referenceMichael Schmaus's theological textbook 'Katholische Dogmatik' (1957) echoes Joseph Pohle's conclusion regarding the plurality of inhabited worlds.
referenceD. Grasso authored the article 'La teologia e la pluralità dei mondi abitati' (Theology and the plurality of inhabited worlds), published in Civiltà Cattolica in 1952.
claimItalian priest-astronomers Angelo Secchi and Francesco Denza shared Joseph Pohle's position regarding the plurality of inhabited worlds.
referenceS.J. Dick authored the chapter 'Plurality of Worlds' in the Encyclopedia of Cosmology, edited by N. Hetherington, published in New York by Garland in 1993, pages 502-512.
referenceG. McColley and W. Miller authored the article 'St. Bonaventure, Francis Mayron, William Vorilong and the Doctrine of a Plurality of Worlds,' published in Speculum in 1937.
referenceS.J. Dick authored 'Plurality of Worlds: The Origin of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant', published in Cambridge by Cambridge University Press in 1982.
If we made contact with aliens, how would religions react? - BBC bbc.com Dec 16, 2016 1 fact
quoteThomas Paine wrote in 'Age of Reason': "A belief in an infinite plurality of worlds, argued Paine, “renders the Christian system of faith at once little and ridiculous and scatters it in the mind like feathers in the air”. It isn’t possible to affirm both simultaneously, he wrote, and “he who thinks that he believes in both has thought but little of either.”"
The Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence: Should We Message ... davidbrin.com 1 fact
referenceM.J. Crowe's book 'The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900: The Idea of a Plurality of Worlds from Kant to Lowell' (Cambridge University Press, 1986) provides a historical overview of concepts regarding extraterrestrial life from 1750 to 1900.