UW 1020 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Albertus Magnus, Nicole Oresme, Philastrius
11 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
Reaction of early christian thinkers about the idea of other worlds was heresy: philastrius says that it is heresy to believe in the infinite world, since the scriptures only teach about one world. One exception of an early church figure who did not reject the idea of other worlds: alexandrian origen supports the idea of a succession of worlds. Augustine juxtaposes the infinitude of space with time: he also talks about god"s supreme powers and whether god would have used all his powers if he didn"t create more than one world. Augustine didn"t focus on a plurality of worlds in space but a plurality of worlds in time. Many christians, after 1170 translation of aristotle"s on the heavens wanted to merge christian belief with classical thought. Albertus magnus and his student thomas aquinas were important figures in the understanding of whether there is only one world.
