Readings on: Philosophical reactions to the new universe
Edman, Irwin in Living Philosophies [abridged - 800 words] [abstract— 150 words] — finding the good life amid confusion of too much knowledge
Russell, Bertrand, "A Free Man’s Worship" [abridged– 1300 words] [abstract– 110 words] [the full version of the essay 3500 words] — the grand stoic reaction to an uncaring universe
Sagan, Carl The Cosmic Connection [excerpt– 2500 words] [abstract– 390 words] — the philosophical hunger for a cosmic perspective
Shapley, Harlow The View From a Distant Star [abridged– 1900 words] [abstract– 430 words] — an optimistic assessment of the scientific worldview
Fowles, John The Aristos
I live in hazard and infinity. The cosmos stretches around me, meadow on meadow of galaxies, reach on reach of dark space, steppes of stars, oceanic darkness and light. There is no god in it, no particular concern or particular mercy. Yet everywhere I see a living balance, a rippling tension, an enormous yet mysterious simplicity, an endless breathing of light. And I comprehend that being is understanding that I must exist in hazard but that the whole is not in hazard. Seeing and knowing this is being conscious: accepting it is being human.