The Extraterrestrial Life Debate 1750-1900: The Idea of a Plurality of Worlds from Kant to Lowell [Paperback]

Michael J. Crowe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 1988

This is the first in-depth study in English of the international debate that developed between 1750 and 1900 concerning the question of the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life. Taking a history of ideas approach, the author describes the controversies that-arose over this question and reveals the great extent to which this issue influenced astronomical, philosophical, and religious thought. Professor Crowe shows that the majority of the leading astronomers of the last two centuries participated in this debate and he analyzes how their views interacted with new developments such as Newtonian mechanics, stellar astronomy, Darwinian theory, and astrophysics. This fascinating and critical history shows that the longstanding and widespread belief in extraterrestrial life has for centuries acted to alter major areas of our intellectual life.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Crowe's aim is to show that "the question of extraterrestrial life, rather than having arisen in the twentieth century, has been debated almost from the beginning of recorded history." He deals only briefly with writings before 1750 because they "have recently been capably discussed by Steven J. Dick in his Plurality of Worlds: The Origins of the Extraterrestrial Life Debate from Democritus to Kant," and he stops early in the 20th century because of "the vast quantity of materials that had appeared by then" and also because of "my determination to base this study on firsthand knowledge of the great majority of these items." The extent of his firsthand knowledge is suggested by his bibliography, listing 143 works published from 1584 to 1915, and his name index, which has more than 1,000 entries. Crowe is a professor of philosophy of science at the University of Notre Dame, and one would expect his discussion to range over the philosophical, scientific and religious aspects of his subject. It does. One learns what prominent people in each field have said for or against extraterrestrial life. It is, Crowe writes, a debate that "differs from most debates in the history of science by the fact that it remains unresolved." The book is a reprint of the edition published in 1986 by Cambridge University Press. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 704 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (February 26, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521359864
• ISBN-13: 978-0521359863
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,828,357 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MAN'S HIGHEST HOPE AND FEAR AND LESSON, September 30, 2000

By 

Patrick Gunkel (Princeton, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900 (Paperback)

Michael J. Crowe's "The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900" is one of the most intellectually magnificent and philosophically enthralling books I have ever read, a supreme work of scholarship. It perfects the sensitive art of quotation and distillation, and the chronological arrangement of the encyclopedic material turns all of history into a common dialogue upon one of the very greatest ideas and problems there is to perplex and fascinate the mind and surround us with the mystery of natural possibilities that are both crazy and sublime. The book itself is like a universe of stellar minds contemplating the inverse puzzle of why there is life on Earth or any life at all. Despite its magnitude, I came to its last page with a melancholy regret that there was not more and more and more of it, but at least this was true of the jeweled depths it probed and illuminated, and which it etched in my memory.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, February 19, 2001

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Extraterrestrial Life Debate, 1750-1900 (Paperback)

Contrary to what you might think, the idea of extraterrestrial life, and even intelligence is not new. In this book, Professor Crowe tracks the debate over extraterrestrial life throughout history, concentrating on the era of 1750 to 1900. Hoping from writer to writer, Crowe deeply covers each persons writing, and its implications in the debate.

This book makes an excellent companion to "Plurality of Worlds" by Steven Dick, which mainly covers up to 1750. Among the fascinating stories I read in this book were those of the "Moon hoax" of R.A. Locke, and Martian canal controversy of the 1880s and `90s. I took away one star because the book is slow and wordy at times, and I wish the author had focused more upon what our ancestors thought extraterrestrials would look like. But, overall this is a great book, and I highly recommend it.