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Extraterrestrials in the 18th Century

Page history last edited by Jackie Kinealy 15 years, 4 months ago

Summary on Today's Topic

 

     The 18th century brought about many new, exciting ideas into the field of cosmology and cosmogony. Since the model of the solar system was nearly completed in the 18th century, astronomers began looking out to the stars and the structure of the universe instead of focusing just on the solar system and planetary astrology. The 'island universe' or nebulae theory was starting; only some clusters of starts in the sky could be resolved into single stars. Astronomers came to the conclusion that these clusters of stars which could not be resolved were actually very close together, or so far away and so big that they could not be resolved. Another big idea to come out of 18th century astronomy was that the shape of the Milky Way in the night sky is an optical effect from it's disk-like nature. Many philosophers and astronomers such as Immanuel Kant, Thomas Wright and Johann Lambert believed the disk-like arrangement of our galaxy.

    

      Thomas Wright sensed a spiritual aspect to the cosmos.  His theory was that the cosmos is a sphere of stars with the deity at the center. Wright subscribed to the Desitic world view that the deity created the universe, but does not interfere with the happenings of earth. He saw The Milk Way as the edge of our universe, and he was the first to suggest this disk theory of the Milky Way.  He also believed in multiple universes. In fact, he believed that every star has planets, and every planet has life. He estimated that there may be as many as 170,000,000 inhabitable planets.  Many of these cultures may very well be more rational creatures than humans.

 

     Immanuel Kant's theory on the origins of the universe is still popular in the 21st century. Kant envisioned a nebula with clouds of space dust and other matter swirling about and pulling togehter to create the sun and it's planets. Kant's theory gave an possibile explanation as to why all planets traveled in the same direction. Kant also was an advocate of the theory of a multiverse during his time, being one of the first to publish the claim that other nebulas throughout space were actually other universes similar to the Milky Way.

      

     Kant was a big advocate of extraterriestrial life during his early days, and made several very bold claims in defense of his belief.  At the same time, Kant wanted to create rules for reasoning, ethics, and morals, and he tried to come up with a universal philosophy. He believed in the idea that those farther away from the sun are more perfect than those closer to the sun (Crowe, pg145).  Kant asks, “Does not a certain middle position between wisdom and unreason belong to the unfortunate faculty of being able to sin? Who knows, are not also the inhabitants of those distant celestial bodies too noble and wise to degrade themselves to [the level of] stupidity which is inherent in sin, those, however, who inhabit the lower planets are grafted too fast to matter and endowed with all too weak faculties to be obligated to carry the responsibility of their actions before the judgment seat of justice?” (Crowe, pg 149). If Kant’s “rule” for morals is true it would look something like a positive relationship between the distance from the sun and the amount of moral perfection an inhabitant attains. The farther away from the sun the inhabitant is, the more perfect are his morals. These creatures are so pure and perfect in Kant’s mind that he proposes that the inhabitants on the more distant celestial bodies are not even subject to decay or death as we [Earth & Mars] middle road planets are. Kant also stated that he believed beings on each planet were greatly effected by their position in the solar system, and that the location in the solar system determined a race's body function and therefore the mind and their ability to think.    

 

     William Derham was another British physicist and philosopher who wrote about his idea of astrotheology, which set out to show that the basic facts of Newtonian mechanics and cosmology were convincing evidence for the “being and attributes of God.” He thought that despite having distances too far from the Earth for the human eye to see, new systems throughout the universe imply new solar systems of fixed stars that could contain intelligent life. The purpose of all the planets to Derham was that they were to be inhabited worlds. He also was a supporter of of the idea that the milky way is an obtical effect from its disc-like nature. There are far more stars in the Milky Way than to the east and west of it which creates the "cloudy/foggy" illusion.

     

     Johann Lambert was a German mathematican and astronomer. He believed that every single celestial body is inhabited.  He particularly liked the idea of comets being inhabited with extraterrestrials who visited all the different solar systems.  He believed that comets traveled in elliptical orbits and even postulated as to the number of comets that had passed though the milky way and existed in the universe.  He believed in a Newtionian cosmology which led him to believe that the stars move themselves around some central space, which he could not decide if it was a great dark space or a bright one like the sun, but if the stars did not move themselves then they would all in on themselves.  A recurring theme in Lambert's works is the question of whether or not we are Copernican enough, whether or not we had realized the full implications from Copernicus' ideas. He questioned the idea of the movement of the stars, where are the moving and what are they moving around. He theorized that due to the Milky Way's disc-like shape the stars move around the center.


 

Primary Sources

 

"If the Stars were ordained merely for the Use of us, why so much Extravagance and Ostentation in their Number, Nature, and Make? For a much less Quantity, and smaller Bodies, placed nearer to us, would every Way answer the vain End we put them to; and besides, in all Things else, Nature is most frugal, and takes the nearest Way, through all her Works to operate and effect the Will of God. It scarce can be reckoned more irrational, to suppose Animals with Eyes, destined to live in eternal Darkness, or without Eyes to live in perpetual Day, than to imagine Space illuminated, where there is nothing to be acted upon, or brought to Light; therefore we may justly suppose, that so many radiant Bodies were not created barely to enlighten an infinite Void, but to make their much more numerous Attendants visible; and instead of discovering a vast unbounded desolate Negation of Beings, display an infinite shapeless Universe, crowded with Myriads of glorious Worlds, all variously revolving round them..." 

(Thomas Wright, An Original Theory or New Hypothesis of the Universe)

 

"I am of the opinion that it is not even necessary to assert that all planets must be inhabited, although it would be sheer madness to deny this in respect to all, or even most of them. ... It may well be that not all celestial bodies are yet fully developed; hundreds or perhaps thousands of years are needed before a great celestial body obtains a firm state of its material."

(Immanuel Kant, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens)

 


 

Key Definitions & Terms

 

Island Universe:

The thoery that the clusters of stars in the sky that could not be resolved into individual stars is actually a universe, such as our own Milky Way, also known as the Nebulae Theory.

 

Deism:

  1. belief in the existence of a God on the evidence of reason and nature only, with rejection of supernatural revelation

 

     2. belief in a God who created the world but has since remained indifferent to it

 

(dictionary. com)

- Thomas Wright was a Deist

Many important figures in US history were believed to be deists, including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin franklin, and Thomas Paine

 

Natural Theology:

the belief that we can use the study of nature, how it is constructed, and discover an insight into the wisdom of the creator. Notable natural theologians include Bentley and Derham.

     - most notably observed through biological observations


 

Relevant Links

 

Photo of Milky Way

Photo of Milky Way2

 

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