Open AccessCosmic Proportions and Human Significance
Author(s) -
Jim Slagle
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
scientia et fides
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.305
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 2300-7648
pISSN - 2353-5636
DOI - 10.12775/setf.2022.013
Subject(s) - humanity , philosophy , universe , epistemology , argument (complex analysis) , image of god , value (mathematics) , nothing , cosmos (plant) , aesthetics , theology , history , art history , physics , astronomy , biochemistry , chemistry , machine learning , computer science
A common misperception, both within academia and without, is that the premodern, Judeo-Christian picture of the universe was of a small, cramped one. This allowed people to believe that the Earth and its inhabitants were the most important thing in it. But this misfires in several ways: First, the premodern cosmos is only small in comparison to what contemporary science has discovered, not absolutely. Second, the premoderns felt just as insignificant as we do in light of the universe’s size, but we cannot translate this into a scientific or philosophical argument. Third, it assumes that the Judeo-Christian view is that humanity is the most important thing (rather than God) and that God created the universe for us (rather than himself). Fourth, whatever value human beings have in the Judeo-Christian tradition is derivative, based on being created in God’s image, and the size of the universe has no bearing on it.