ABSTRACT
Already in antiquity such atomist philosophers as Democritus (c. 460-c. 370 B.C.) and Lucretius (c. 9955 B.C.) espoused the doctrine of other worlds, whereas Plato (c. 427-347 B.C.) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) opposed it. Medieval scholars also remained far from a consensus. Although Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74) argued against the doctrine, the famous Condemnation of 1277, in which one of the propositions condemned was that “the First Cause [God] cannot make many worlds,” opened the way to other perspectives. For example, Nicole Oresme (c. 1320-82), eventually the bishop of Paris, considered both sides of the issue, and Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-64) advocated extraterrestrials, including solarians, in his Of Learned Interest.
