The Meaning of Travel by Emily Thomas

Author:Emily Thomas [Thomas, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2020-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 7.1 How does this cube relate to the space it takes up?

More’s views on space developed over the course of his career. The position he finally reached is a solution to two problems. The first problem is: What is the relationship between space and matter? More read Descartes carefully. Although More was impressed by Descartes’ work, he could not accept Descartes’ account of space. For More, it was possible to have empty spaces, spaces that are empty of matter. Unlike Descartes, More believed that if we removed all material bodies from the world, there would still be space left behind.

The second problem is: What is God’s relationship with the world? For Descartes, the universe is like a giant machine. Initially, More found this idea very attractive. It allowed him to jettison older, more mysterious theories about what the world is. In the end, though, More concluded that Descartes’ philosophy led to atheism. Descartes’ mechanistic picture didn’t seem to need God in it. God could have created the world machine and then ambled off. Even if God hung around, there was no need for him to exist in the created world. More rejected such views, and describes the theory that God is nowhere as ‘a vast great mound of darkness’.

Gradually, More’s thoughts on these problems converged. More had long believed that space is infinite, and was in awe of it. Here is an excerpt from one of his earliest poems:

Wherefore with leave th’infinite I’ll sing

Of Time, of Space: or without leave; I’m brent

With eagre rage, my heart for joy doth spring,

And all my spirits move with pleasant trembeling.9

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