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Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle; translation by H.A. Hargreaves is a philosophy book available to read on EtoBox.

What is Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds about?

Surveying the night sky, a charming philosopher and his hostess, the Marquise, are considering thep ossibility of travelers from the moon.'What if they 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?'asks the philosopher.'Why not?'the Marquise replies.'As for me, I'd put myself into their nets of my own volition just to have the pleasure of seeing those who caught me.'In this imaginary conversation of three hundred years ago, readers can share the excitement of a new, extremely daring view of the uinverse. Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes), first published in 1686, is one of the best loved classics of the early French enlightenment. Through a series of informal dialogues that take place on successive evenings in the marquise's moonlit gardens, Fontenelle describes the new cosmology of the Copernican world view with matchles clarity, imagination, and wit. Moreover, he boldly makes his interlocutor a woman, inviting female participation in the almost exclusively male province of scientific discourse. The popular Font

Who reads Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds?

Author

Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle; translation by H.A. Hargreaves

Publisher

Berkeley: University of California Press

Published

1990

Language

EN

ISBN

9780520071711

Category

philosophy

Subjects

Literary Criticism, Astronomy, Science

Rating

3.82 / 5 (114 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14