Alfred Russel Wallace about harmony in the Universe (To the 120th anniversary of his work "Man's Place in the Universe")

Abstract

The idea of the unity of man and the Universe was developed in many philosophical and religious teachings. However, the first who scientifically substantiates it was Alfred Russel Wallace (1823—1913) — a British naturalist, traveler, geographer, biologist, and anthropologist of the XIX century. He noted that the idea of the «plurality of worlds» of Copernicus, where the Earth is one of the many planets inhabited by intelligent beings, is not supported by observations. Wallace substantiated that the possibility of the emergence of life and mind in the universe depends on many interrelated conditions. He concluded that «any planet in the solar system other than our Earth is uninhabited» and «almost as likely that no other Sun has inhabited planets». Wallace held the view that humans were the only intelligent beings and could have originated exclusively on Earth as the pinnacle of the evolution of the Universe. The researcher admitted the possibility of the existence of other worlds with other physical laws but believed that only in ours it was possible for a man to appear, and that is why our Universe arose.