Masks of the Universe: Changing Ideas on the Nature of the Cosmos

by Edward Harrison

• ISBN13: 9780521773515
• ISBN10: 0521773512
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-02
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

To the ancient Greeks the universe consisted of earth, air, fire and water. To Saint Augustine it was the Word of God. To many modern scientists it is the interaction of atoms and waves, and in years to come it may be different again. What then is the real universe? History shows that in every age society constructs its own universe, believing it to be the real and final one. Yet these are only models, or masks covering what is not understood and not known. This book brings together fundamental scientific, philosophical, and religious issues in cosmology, raising thought provoking questions. In every age people have pitied the universes of their ancestors, convinced that they have at last discovered the full truth. Do we now stand at the threshold of knowing everything, or will our latest model also be rejected by our descendants?

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introducing the Masks	1	(14)
Part I Worlds in the Making
The Magic Universe	15	(14)
The Mythic Universe	29	(16)
The Geometric Universe	45	(16)
The Medieval Universe	61	(20)
The Infinite Universe	81	(20)
The Mechanistic Universe	101	(22)
Part II The Heart Divine
Dance of the Atoms and Waves	123	(18)
Fabric of Space and Time	141	(22)
What Then is Time?	163	(10)
Nearer to the Heart's Desire	173	(20)
The Cosmic Tide	193	(20)
Do Dreams Come True?	213	(22)
Part III The Cloud of Unknowing
The Witch Universe	235	(14)
The Spear of Archytas	249	(16)
Ultimum Sentiens	265	(10)
All That is Made	275	(14)
The Cloud of Unknowing	289	(16)
Learned Ignorance	305	(6)
Bibliography	311	(14)
Index	325