The Last Frontier : : Imagining Other Worlds from the Copernican Revolution to Modern Science Fiction / / Karl S. Guthke.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Archive Pre-2000
• VerfasserIn: Guthke, Karl S.,
• TeilnehmendeR: Atkins, Helen.
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2019]; ©1993
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (416 p.)

The existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life has been a subject of debate since the dawn of recorded history. The Last Frontier, originally published in German in 1983 and now available in Helen Atkins's sensitive English translation, traces the development of the idea that Earth is not the only planet inhabited by intelligent beings, but that there might be a plurality or even an infinity of "worlds" with human or humanoid life. Focusing on the seventeenth to the twentieth century and taking into account theological, philosophical, scientific, popular, and literary writings from American, British, French, and German sources, Karl S. Guthke demonstrates the continuing importance of this question to the process of human self-definition.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Translator's Note -- 1. Introduction: "Are We Alone?" -- 2. The Renaissance: Science Falls from Grace -- 3. The Baroque Period: Between Heresy and Piety -- 4. The Enlightenment: Man as "the Measure of All Things"? -- 5. Modern Times: Man and Superman-The Origin of Species in the Cosmos -- Index