Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds [Paperback]

We in our modern age are accustomed to thinking about topics such as space travel, life on other worlds, Martian meteorites, and all manner of other modern scientific ideas. This charming translation of a charming and important work in the history of science shows us that our ideas may not be quite as modern as we think they are.

First published in 1686 (that's right, 1686), Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds discusses how the stars in the night sky are other solar systems, probably with planets and people of their own, and that we may visit them, or they us, one day. What makes the work so charming, and of lasting literary as well as scientific value, is that it is written as a dialogue between a philosopher and a lady as they spend several evenings walking together in the lady's garden. "What if," asks the philosopher, the travelers from other worlds "were skillful enough to navigate on the outer surface of our air, and from there, through their curiosity to see us, they angled for us like fish? Would that please you?" "Why not?" the lady replies, "I'd put my myself into their nets of my own volition just to have the pleasure of seeing those who caught me."

If you have any interest in the history of science, or science fiction, or astronomy and space travel, you will enjoy this volume.

This book was thrilling to me because of the conversational way it told 1600's scientific ideas of outer space. Besides that, the issue of what women are capable of learning was an underlying idea. To top it off, Elizabeth Gunning Plunkett was the translator. I was especially happy to see how she translated such a thought-provoking book. The bonus was that she was probably my ancestor. The book includes a page or more of her bio and a portrait drawing of her. She was considered to be the best of all prior translators of this book, according to the footnote writer.

There is no romance in the book at all. Rather, it is everyday conversations between a man and a woman on the philosophy of living as humans related to the planets. It has no paragraph breaks nor quotation marks when changing from one speaker to another. That and a few words whose meanings I didn't know were the only things that made it difficult to read.

I would recommend this book for ALL readers of all ages. It sparked many conversations between my husband and me about current scientific views of how the planets relate. Our God created a marvelous solar system. To think He cares about such details and still cares for you and me is AMAZING!

_Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds_ is a translation of the work _Entretiens sur la pluralite des mondes_, first published in 1686, by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle. Fontenelle (1657-1757) was a fascinating figure of the French Enlightenment, who was among the first to popularize scientific ideas. Fontenelle was critical of much of religion and superstition (for example, he wrote critically of people who lived in fear of comets). At the time Fontenelle wrote, religious conflicts existed between Protestants and Catholics; however, Fontenelle faced the possibility of censure in that he maintained that the earth was not the center of the universe. Fontenelle was heavily influenced by the "modern" philosophy of Descartes (particularly Descartes' theory of vortices), as well as the heliocentric astronomy of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler, and the ideas of Galileo (including Galileo's use of the scientific method and his use of the telescope for studying the night sky). Fontenelle also entertained more modern "enlightened" ideas regarding the place of women (he places a woman in a central position within these dialogues showing his belief that women could indeed be scholars). However, perhaps most interesting of all are Fontenelle's speculations concerning the plurality of worlds, life on other planets (and moons), and the possibility of other solar systems surrounding other stars (and life on them), as well as the interesting idea that man would someday learn to travel to other planets (or the Moon) by means of flight (far ahead of his time!). Ideas such as these influenced many subsequent writers and thinkers, including the early science-fiction of Jules Verne as well as subsequent utopian literature. Religiously, Fontenelle has proven difficult to pin down given his rejection of superstition and his hostility towards clericalism, leading some to suggest that he was in fact a "pagan". The _Conversations_ presented here were continually updated by Fontenelle throughout his life (and a sixth dialogue was added to the original five, though it does not appear in this edition). This edition features an Introduction by Nina Rattner Gelbart, which explains the context of this book and presents the life of Fontenelle. Further, there is a Translator's Preface by the translator H. A. Hargreaves, which discusses the life of Fontenelle as well as notes some of the peculiarities of the editions of this work and the difficulties in translating the work. This book has proven to be a difficult one to translate and some of that difficulty may be seen here.

Fontenelle's book begins with a preface where he compares his situation in putting forth a book of popular philosophy to that of Cicero who wrote in his own tongue. Fontenelle also explains the characters who appear in his dialogues, including the Marquise (the female character in the dialogue), and why he has chosen to place a woman in the dialogue. In this preface, Fontenelle also considers the possible objection that the inhabitants of the Moon would not be sons of Adam (being that the sons of Adam would presumably have never made the journey from the Earth to the Moon). He concludes that the inhabitants of the Moon need not be like men in any way and that he cannot know what they would be like, and that further he is not being entirely serious in this book. Following this, Fontenelle addresses the book to a Monsieur L___, and then begins with the first dialogue which takes place on the first night. During the first evening, the Marquise and the philosopher appear and looking up at the night sky, the philosopher begins explaining the nature of the heavens to her. To begin, the philosopher explains the nature of Natural Philosophy (at that time including Physics and Astronomy within its purview), and notes how "nature has become mechanical" since the time of the ancients, comparing nature to a watch. The philosopher then notes the positions of the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, the planets, and the "fixed stars" in the night sky, and he explains how originally the Ptolemaic view held sway (with the Earth at the center of the universe) only to be replaced by the Copernican view (with the Sun at the center of the solar system and the Earth revolving around it). The philosopher explains how the Earth passes through each sign of the Zodiac as it turns around the Sun, and he answers several objections the Marquise has to this theory, explaining how the heliocentric theory is more parsimonious than the Ptolemaic system. The philosopher ends by making a comparison between Copernicus' views and those of Tycho Brahe and then they adjourn for the evening. The second evening finds the philosopher making the astonishing admission that the Moon is a world just like the Earth and that the Moon is likely inhabited. The philosopher reasons that since the Moon resembles the Earth it must be inhabited like the Earth in this respect. The philosopher goes on to explain various aspects of the Moon in its orbit around the Earth, and then goes on to explain how the inhabitants of the Moon are in a similar condition to the inhabitants of America and the New World before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. In answer to the question as to how the inhabitants of Earth would ever meet the inhabitants of the Moon, Fontenelle proposes this startling account: "We're beginning to fly a bit now; a number of different people have found the secret of strapping on wings that hold them up in the air, and making them move, and crossing over rivers or flying from one belfry to another. . . . The art of flying has only just been born; it will be perfected, and some day we'll go to the Moon." Surely such prophetic remarks (written in 1686!) show that Fontenelle was far ahead of his time. The third evening has the philosopher take back his remarks about inhabitants on the Moon, only to be re-convinced by the Marquise. They also discuss the Sun and Venus. The fourth evening has the philosopher explain the inhabitants of other planets (making note of their different periods around the Sun), including Mercury and Jupiter (and making note of the moons of Jupiter as well), as well as explaining the theory of vortices. It is during the fifth evening however that the philosopher makes perhaps his boldest claim. He contends that the fixed stars are really suns, and that they may contain solar systems of planets just like our own Sun. From this he argues that these planets may each be inhabited. However, he cautions, "Well, if you grant a mathematician the least principle, he'll draw a conclusion from it that you must grant him too, and from that conclusion another, and in spite of yourself he'll lead you so far you'll have trouble believing it." These thoughts disturb the Marquise, but the philosopher ends on a positive note by bringing up the fact of beauty (and her beauty).

These conversations are an important part of the history of science. They offer the reader a unique glimpse into the mind of a true visionary who saw far ahead into the future. They have played a unique role in the development of scientific ideas (as well as the creation of science-fiction) and offer us hope that some day we may come into contact with other intelligent life in the universe.

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