Sternenpolitik

Abstract Fontenelle’s dual role as a representative of the Modernes as well as the perpetual secretary of the French Academy of Sciences explains his hesitation in making any public statements about politics. Nevertheless, this article identifies within his best-known Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds a liberal interpretation of the heavens that is supported by the metaphorical transfer between political semantics and the field of cosmology. The idea of this liberality flourishes in the gallant dialogue between two protagonists (the marquise and the philosopher), unfolds within the context of an opening, expert scientific discourse, and is reflected through the physical description of a commerce among celestial vortices. Thus, different aspects of the political within the Conversations are examined - starting from the self-understanding of the individual all the way up to the idea of an egalitarian universe that is characterised by collective interaction.