1 – 3 pm
Opinion about the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life has a long history in Western thought. Since at least the fifth century BCE, the debate has engaged a surprising number of philosophers, theologians, literary figures, and scientists. We will survey key developments in the history of this idea from the Copernican revolution to the publication of Wells’s The War of the Worlds. The course also offers different and sometimes surprising perspectives on an idea still very much with us today.
Lee Minnerly holds an M.A. in anthropology, teaches adult education classes on astronomy and culture at the College of Lake County, and is an archives assistant in the Webster Institute for the History of Astronomy at Adler Planetarium and Museum.
Six sessions, $170.
Register Online
Materials List
Required:
Crowe, Michael J., ed. The Extraterrestrial Life Debate: Antiquity to 1915, A Source Book. University of Notre Dame Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0268023683