Of the Plurality of Worlds

Is there intelligent life on other worlds? William Whewell, one of the most influential British intellectuals of the nineteenth century, weighed in on this question with Of the Plurality of Worlds. Writing anonymously, Whewell argued that there was no life anywhere else in the universe. Admitting such a possibility, he feared, would threaten humanity's special relationship with God, and open the door to supporters of evolution.

The publication of Plurality in 1853 ignited a bitter Victorian debate on science and religion. This book reprints the first edition in facsimile, together with a vigorous response to his critics that Whewell added later and new introductory and bibliographic material by noted Darwin scholar Michael Ruse. This edition also includes 84 typeset pages—never before published—that Whewell cut from the original book at the last moment. Showing clearly the theological underpinnings of Whewell's thinking, these chapters also reveal the difficulties facing any Victorian who tried to reconcile traditional Christian thought with the findings of modern science.

William Whewell (1794-1866) was a professor of mineralogy (1828-1832) and moral philosophy (1838-1855) at the University of Cambridge. For twenty-five years he was the Master of Trinity College at Cambridge. Whewell was the author of many books, including History of the Inductive Sciences and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences.

Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Can a Darwinian Be a Christian? and The Darwinian Revolution, Second Edition, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.