Masks of the Universe: Changing Ideas on the Nature of the Cosmos [Hardcover]

Edward Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0521773512 | ISBN-13: 978-0521773515 | Edition: 2

In Masks of the Universe, Edward Harrison brings together fundamental scientific, philosophical and religious issues in cosmology and raises thought provoking questions. Philosophical issues dominated cosmology in the ancient world. Theological issues ranked foremost in the Middle Ages; astronomy and the physical sciences have taken over in more recent times. Yet every attempt to grasp the true nature of the universe creates a new "mask," People have always pitied the universes of their ancestors, believing that their generation has at last discovered the "real" universe. Do we now stand at the threshold of knowing everything, or have we created yet another "mask," doomed to fade like those preceding ours? Edward Harrison is Adjunct Professor of Astronomy, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, and Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He worked as a scientist for the Atomic Energy Research Establishment and the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory in England until 1966 when he became a Five College professor at the University of Massachusetts and taught at Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith College. He is the author of numerous books, including Cosmology: the Science of the Universe (Cambridge, 2001)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...for those interested in philosophy and the nature of the universe, Masks of the Universe will be certain to interest and entertain an inquiring mind." Stardust

Book Description

In the ancient world philosophical issues dominated cosmology. In the Middle Ages theological issues ranked foremost. In recent times astronomy and the physical sciences have taken over. Yet every attempt to grasp the true nature of the universe creates a new mask. In every age people have pitied the universes of their ancestors, believing that they have at last discovered the full truth. Do we now stand at the threshold of knowing everything, or have we created yet another mask, doomed to fade like all the rest?

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (June 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521773512
• ISBN-13: 978-0521773515
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #849,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reassuring humility from leading scientist, November 22, 2006

By 

Greg (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Masks of the Universe: Changing Ideas on the Nature of the Cosmos (Hardcover)

Harrison is a veteran scientific cosmologist. Now in his eighties, he offers his own personal perspective on the subject after many decades in the field. Much as John Wheeler (the great Princeton physicist now well over 90) was forced to look back on his subject after a recent heart attack, Harrison also takes a broader perspective on the subject.

For Harrison, cosmology is not just a scientific enterprise. Of course scientific cosmologists do scientific cosmology, and it is perfectly legitimate to do so. However in Harrison's view, there is the Universe and the universe. The Universe is what the philosopher might call 'Reality' beneath appearances, or the mystic or theologian would call God or the Absolute. Harrison divides the Universe into the universes which each person's worldview creates, whether they are scientists, poets, philosophers, theologians, or just ordinary people. Harrison's view is somewhat Kantian and he regards the Universe in itself as unknowable. He offers several interesting arguments to support this, including quotes from the writer of the mystical tract 'The Cloud of Unknowing.'

Harrison concludes that many scientific schemas have come and gone over the ages which purport to supply the 'grand theory' which will explain everything. He looks at the way some systems are adopted and others rejected and in a somewhat Kuhnian vein, adopts a position from Nicholas of Cusa he calls learned ignorance. This is an essentially humble approach to the universe, the belief that what we know is only the tiniest tip on an unfathomable iceberg of the unknown. There is no final theory and there never will be one, as the cosmos and its riches are infinite and will always be probed at ever new levels, so long as the human race lives.

This metaphysical argument is very interesting and has also been posed in other forms by physicists such as Paul Davies and mathematicians such as Roger Penrose (though applied to mathematical realities rather than the physical). The humility is somewhat refreshing in the face of the hubris which occurs in some scientists, who seem to look at all culture outside of science as deeply inferior to the way science contemplates the universe. While such an argument might be wrong (one day we may come up with a final theory) it is interesting to consider.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Humility, December 13, 2003

By 

John Smeltzer (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Masks of the Universe: Changing Ideas on the Nature of the Cosmos (Hardcover)

I feel contempt for the hubris that often accompanies a comparison of scientific and pre-scientific (i.e. religious) world views. There is no reason for contempt with Edward Harrison's awesome humility. The distinction Harrison makes between a conceptual model of the Universe (which is designated by the initial lower case `u') and the actual Universe itself (capital `U'), proves to be very practical. By explicitly preserving the mystery of the Universe, a new perspective on the old conundrums of free-will and determinism as well as consciousness and brains is gained. Because he looks at our underlying assumptions, the book has a philosophical character to it.

The majority of the book is divided into three sections, each with six chapters. The first section deals with the various world-views in chronological order, not a history of the Universe, but a history of universes. The second section deals with the contemporary scientific view. I don't have much alacrity for science writing - popular or otherwise - but this was an exceptional case. He covered many things I have only a vague idea about such as quantum theory, special and general theories of relativity, the anthropic principle etc. It was the final section that I was most excited about. Harrison deals with some problems that have vexed me for quite some time. I especially like his commentary on the brain and Ultima Sentiens. I would recommend this book over the Huston Smith's Why Religion Matters on matters of religion and science. He deals with agnosticism wonderfully, and he makes it explicit that his thinking about God is not pantheism. He doesn't use the word himself, but I think the word "panentheism" is a closer match to what Harrison suggests.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in world-views and issues between science and religion.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Universe Behind the Masks, March 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Masks of the Universe (Paperback)

University of Massachusetts Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Edward R Harrison, takes the lay reader on a thought-provoking and learned journey through the epochs of humanity, and our attempt to unravel the workings and the meaning of the many universes which we have created in our image. Writing in beautiful prose, Professor Harrison reawakens us to the lives,the words and the views of the thinkers, sages and mystics of all-times. The everchanging character of the Universe as it is pictured in time, bounded by the confines of our religious and scientific prejudices, is rendered here like fine brushstrokes upon a canvas. In the finely crafted "Masks of the Universe," Science meets History and Religion. In the Professor's words: "All who claim freedom of will and deny the determinism of the universe in which they live are guilty of the Pelagian heresy. I am myself a Pelagian heretic."