The Consolations of Astronomy and the Cosmic Perspective

Abstract

Almost exactly 1500 years ago, the Roman statesman and philosopher Boethius wrote The Consolation of Philosophy, a conversation with Lady Philosophy in which he proclaimed the superiority of a life of the mind over wealth and fame. What does Urania, the Muse of Astronomy, have to offer? Here we argue that astronomy offers us a cosmological worldview within which we can frame our daily lives, providing a cosmic perspective sorely needed in the modern world. Boethius himself exhibited such a perspective as he sat in prison during the last days of his life, as did Giordano Bruno and many others, both in the realm of natural philosophy and natural science. Poets, philosophers, and scientists fostered it as the scientific revolution took root in the decades and centuries following Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, even as John Donne feared in the wake of the Copernican theory “’Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone.” In the twentieth century, astronomers Harlow Shapley and Carl Sagan actively promoted a much more robust cosmic perspective, based on modern science and featuring many worlds, extraterrestrial intelligence, and an expansive image of cosmic evolution. The cosmic perspective, similar to but more robust than what Sagan called “the cosmic connection,” is widespread today and is growing even among theologians, philosophers, and a public otherwise too far removed from science. One of the “consolations of astronomy” is that it allows us to envision our place in the universe of space and time, offering an inspiring vision of both life and death.