Extraterrestrial Protagonist

In this homework, we will take a closer look at the novel Micromegas (1752) and see how Voltaire employed his pluralistic contentions to criticize some of the religious beliefs or the socio-political climate of his time. The novel begins with a depiction of the early life of Micromegas, an inhabitant of a planet orbiting the star Sirius, and describes how he embarked on his voyage to our planet.
“On one of the planets that orbits the star named Sirius there lived a spirited young man, who I had the honour of meeting on the last voyage he made to our little ant hill. He was called Micromegas, a fitting name for anyone so great .... Mr. Micromegas, inhabitant of the country of Sirius, is ..... 120,000 feet [tall]..... we citizens of the earth are hardly five feet tall, and our sphere 9,000 leagues around; [it then follows] that it is absolutely necessary that the sphere that produced him [Micromegas] was 21,600,000 times greater in circumference than our little Earth. .....As for his mind, it is one of the most cultivated that we have. He knows many things. He invented some of them. He was not even 250 years old when he studied, as is customary, at the most celebrated colleges of his planet, where he managed to figure out by pure willpower more than 50 of Euclid’s propositions. ...... Towards his 450th year, near the end of his infancy, he dissected many small insects no more than 100 feet in diameter, which would evade ordinary microscopes. He wrote a very curious book about this, and it gave him some income. The mufti of his country, an extremely ignorant worrywart, found some suspicious, rash, disagreeable, and heretical propositions in the book, smelled heresy, and pursued it vigorously; it was a matter of finding out whether the sub- stantial form of the fleas of Sirius were of the same nature as those of the snails. Micromegas gave a spirited defense; he brought in some women to testify in his favour; the trial lasted 220 years. Finally the mufti had the book condemned by jurisconsults who had not read it, and the au- thor was ordered not to appear in court for 800 years..... He was thereby dealt the minor affliction of being banished from a court that consisted of nothing but harassment and pettiness....... he took to voyaging from planet to planet in order to develop his heart and mind...... Our voyager was very familiar with the laws of gravity and with all the other attrac- tive and repulsive forces. He utilized them so well that, whether with the help of a ray of sunlight or some comet, he jumped from globe to globe.....Micromegas, after having toured around, arrived at the planet Saturn. As accustomed as he was to seeing new things, he could not, upon seeing the smallness of the planet and its inhabitants, stop himself from smiling with the superiority that occasionally escapes the wisest of us. For in the end Saturn is hardly nine times bigger than Earth, and the citizens of this country are dwarfs..... He got to know the Saturnians after their shock wore off. He built a strong friendship with the secretary of the academy of Saturn.....”
(1.) Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the above introduction is the huge sizes of the extraterrestrial protagonist and his friend. By referring to the huge size of Sirians and Saturanians Voltaire is mocking one of the individuals we discussed in this course so far. Refer to your notes and find out who this individual is.
(2.) In your opinion, how our modern perception of the size and anatomy of extraterrestrials differs from that of Micromegas? You might want to do a quick search on the net before responding to this question.
Chapter 2 of Micromegas starts with a conversation between the Saturnian and Micromegas on their senses:
“We only have 72 [senses],” said the academic [Saturnian], “and we always complain about it. Our imagination surpasses our needs. We find that with our 72 senses, our ring, [and] our five moons, we are too restricted; and in spite of all our curiosity and the fairly large number of passions that result from our 72 senses, we have plenty of time to get bored.” “I believe it,” said Micromegas, “for on our planet we have almost 1,000 senses; and yet we still have a kind of vague feeling, a sort of worry, that warns us that there are even more perfect beings. I have traveled a bit; and I have seen mortals that surpass us, some far superior. But I have not seen any that desire only what they truly need, and who need only what they indulge in. Maybe someday I will happen upon a country that lacks nothing; but so far no one has given me any word of a place like that.”
(3.) In the above passage, discuss how Voltaire’s description of extraterrestrials and their senses differs from that of Huygens (you might want to refer to your notes).
(4.) How does our modern perception of extraterrestrials compare to the views of Voltaire? Do we believe that extraterrestrials have evolved similar senses to us or do we believe that they might possess additional senses (again, you might want to do a quick search before responding to this question)?
The second chapter continues with many descriptions of scientific exchanges between the two extraterrestrials:
“Finally, after having told each other a little of what they knew and a lot of what they did not know, after having reasoned over the course of a revolution around the sun, they resolved to go on a small philosophical voyage together......... They stopped at Jupiter and stayed for a week, during which time they learned some very wonderful secrets...... Upon leaving Jupiter they traversed a space of around one hundred million leagues and approached the planet Mars, which, as we know, is five times smaller than our own; they swung by two moons that cater to this planet but have escaped the notice of our astronomers. I know very well that Father Castel will write, perhaps even agreeably enough, against the existence of these two moons; but I rely on those who reason by analogy. These good philosophers know how unlikely it would be for Mars, so far from the sun, to have gotten by with less than two moons.”
(5.) The above quote is another interesting passage from the book where Voltaire describes the two moons of Mars. The two moons of Mars were only discovered in 1877, while Micromeags was published 125 years earlier. On what grounds does Voltaire predict the existence of the two moons of Mars. What are the two lines of reasoning which he uses in concluding that Mars must have two moons (hint: you might want to go back to Kepler and his discussion of the moons of Jupiter)?
Finally, the two itinerants arrive on planet Earth. Exploring their surround- ings for a while, the Sirian and the Saturnian started debating whether Earth was inhabited or not:
“Finally the Saturnian saw something elusive that moved in the shallow waters of the Baltic sea; it was a whale. He carefully picked it up with his little finger and, resting it on the nail of his thumb, showed it to the Sirian, who began laughing for a second time at the ludicrously small scale of the things on our planet. The Saturnian, persuaded that our world was inhabited, figured very quickly that it was inhabited only by whales; and as he was very good at reasoning, he was determined to infer the origin and evolution of such a small atom; whether it had ideas, a will, liberty. Micromegas was confused. He examined the animal very patiently and found no reason to believe that a soul was lodged in it. The two voyagers were therefore inclined to believe that there is no spirit in our home, when with the help of the microscope they perceived something as large as a whale floating on the Baltic Sea. We know that a flock of philosophers [from Earth] was at this time returning from the Arctic Circle, where they had made some observations, which no one had dared make up to then.........Micromegas slowly reached his hand towards the place where the object had appeared, extended two fingers, and withdrew them for fear of being mistaken, then opened and closed them, and skillfully seized the vessel that carried these fellows, putting it on his fingernail without pressing it too hard for fear of crushing it. “Here is a very different animal from the first,” said the dwarf from Saturn. The Sirian put the so-called animal in the palm of his hand. The passengers and the crew, who be- lieved themselves to have been lifted up by a hurricane, and who thought they were on some sort of boulder, scurried around; the sailors took the barrels of wine, threw them overboard onto Micromegas hand, and fol- lowed after. The geometers took their quadrants, their sextants....... and descended onto the Sirian’s fingers. They made so much fuss that he finally felt something move, tickling his fingers. It was a steel-tipped ba- ton being pressed into his index finger. He judged, by this tickling, that it had been ejected from some small animal that he was holding; but he did not suspect anything else at first. The microscope, which could barely distinguish a whale from a boat, could not capture anything as elusive as a man....... What marvellous skill it must have taken for our philosopher from Sirius to perceive the atoms I have just spoken of. ...... Micromegas, a much better observer than his dwarf, clearly saw that the atoms were speaking to each other........[Micromegas] briskly took out a pair of scissors with which he cut his fingernails, and from the parings of his thumbnail he improvised a kind of speaking-trumpet, like a vast funnel, and put the end up to his ear. The circumference of the funnel enveloped the vessel and the entire crew. The weakest voice entered into the circular fibers of the nails in such a way that, thanks to his industri- ousness, the philosopher above could hear the drone of our insects below perfectly. In a small number of hours he was able to distinguish words, and finally to understand French. The dwarf managed to do the same, though with more difficulty. The voyagers’ surprise redoubled each sec- ond. They heard the mites speak fairly intelligently. This performance of nature’s seemed inexplicable to them. You may well believe that the Sirian and the dwarf burned with impatience to converse with the atoms. The dwarf feared that his thunderous voice, and assuredly Micromegas, would deafen the mites without being understood. They had to diminish its force. They placed toothpicks in their mouths, whose tapered ends fell around the ship. The Sirian put the dwarf on his knees and the ship with its crew on a fingernail. He lowered his head and spoke softly. If anyone has ever been surprised, it was the people who heard these words. They could not figure out where they were coming from. The chaplain of the vessel recited the exorcism prayers, the sailors swore, and the philosophers of the vessel constructed systems; but no matter what systems they came up with, they could not figure out who was talking. The dwarf from Saturn, who had a softer voice than Micromegas, told them in a few words what species they were dealing with. He told them about the voyage from Saturn, brought them up to speed on what Mr. Micromegas was, and after lamenting how small they were, asked them if they had always been in this miserable state so near nothingness......”
(6.) In the sentence, appearing in bold, which one of the following concepts is Micromegas referring to? Discuss your response in a short paragraph.
(a) Anthropocentrism
(b) Copernican Principle (c) Doctrine of Atonement (d) Principle of Plenitude
After establishing contact with humans, the extraterrestrials are surprised at the level of intellect of the tiny inhabitants of Earth. In conversation with humans, Micromegas and his friend are puzzled upon hearing about war between the Russians and the Turks which was happening at the time of Voltaire:
“Oh intelligent atoms, in which the Eternal Being desired to make manifest his skill and his power, you must, no doubt, taste pure joys on your planet; for having so little matter, and appearing to be entirely spirit, you must live out your life think- ing and loving, the veritable life of the mind. Nowhere have I seen true bliss, but it is here, without a doubt.” At this all the philosophers shook their heads, and one of them, more frank than the others, avowed that if one excepts a small number of inhabitants held in poor regard, all the rest are an assembly of mad, vicious, and wretched people. “We have more substance than is necessary,” he said, ”to do evil, if evil comes from substance; and too much spirit, if evil comes from spirit. Did you know, for example, that as I am speaking with you, there are 100,000 madmen of our species wearing hats, killing 100,000 others..... wearing turbans, or being massacred by them, and that we have used al- most surface of the Earth for this purpose since time immemorial?” “It is a matter,” said the philosopher, “of some piles of mud as big as your heel. It is not that any of these millions of men that slit each other’s throats care about this pile of mud. It is only a matter of determining if it should belong to a certain man who we call ’Sultan,’ or to another who we call, for whatever reason, ’Czar.’ Neither one has ever seen nor will ever see the little piece of Earth, and almost none of these animals that mutually kill themselves have ever seen the animal for which they kill.”
(7.) In the above quote, what is Micromegas’s initial impression of the sociopolit- ical conditions of the planet Earth? How does Micromegas’s initial impression com- pare to our modern speculations about extraterrestrial societies? Do we speculate advanced extraterrestrial societies to be peaceful Utopias free of war and violence? Discuss your answer.
Finally, Micromegas asks the travellers aboard the ship: “ Tell me what your soul is, and how you form ideas.” Here, each philosopher’s response is to rep- resent the views of one the famous philosophers who was either a contemporary of Voltaire or lived before him. The reader is reminded of the views of Aristotle, Descartes, Leibniz..... Finally, a theologian takes up the stage:
“[a] little animalcule in a square hat who interrupted all the other an- imalcule philosophers.... said that he knew the secret: that everything would be found in the Summa of Saint Thomas. He looked the two ce- lestial inhabitants up and down. He argued that their people, their worlds, their suns, their stars, had all been made uniquely for mankind. At this speech, our two voyagers nearly fell over with that inextinguishable laughter which, according to Homer, is shared with the gods. Their shoulders and their stomachs heaved up and down, and in these convulsions the vessel that the Sirian had on his nail fell into one of the Saturnian’s trouser pockets. These two good men searched for it a long time, found it finally, and tidied it up neatly. The Sirian resumed his discussion with the little mites. He spoke to them with great kindness, although in the depths of his heart he was a little angry that the infinitely small had an almost infinitely great pride.
(8.) In the above passage, what concept is the theologian referring to? Is Voltaire’s position favourable to that of Micromegas or that of theologian’s? Based on the lecture for this week, why do you think Voltaire is criticizing the theologian and his views?