[net.misc] Angels Dancing

cw (07/31/82)

A comment on a commonly used phrase to denote an argument that is 
simultaneously abstruse, theological, and irrelevant:

	How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

Modern folk (myself included until a few days ago) tend to think that this
phrase refers to scholastic and silly discussions about exact size of angels.
On the contrary, it refers to a much more serious problem (at least in the
minds of medaevial (sp? I haven't got a dictionary nearby) thinkers.  The
problem should be stated

	Can a finite or an infinite number of angels dance on the head of
	a pin/

Now the discussion is concerned with whether angels are corporeal or
incorporeal and this in turn has serious implications on the nature
of heaven, the nature of the afterlife, whether we retain our bodies
after the resurrection, and so on.  It may also have some effect on the
size of heaven and the universe and on the power of God to create
infinite things (which, according to Zeno, should take infinite time).
This is obviously a much deeped discussion if you are a believer in
Christianity (as all the western philosophers who mattered were when
this was a hot topic).  It's not too different from a similar argument
about whether the body of Christ actually enters the communion wafer
during Mass, a question which vague memory suggests has been so
seriously debated as to lead to at least small wars.

Of course, you may not care, but do not on that account unnecessarily
denigrate the best efforts of intelligent people to understand their
universe according to their own lights.

Charles

phw (08/04/82)

I have wondered myself how many angels can dance on the head of a pin,
and, of course, have decided that certain unknowns make this problem
very difficult, i.e., is the band also on the head of the pin, do they
have amplifiers, etc., and whether the angels are dancing the tango,
waltz, square dance, ....


				Pat Wood
				...!{harpo, chico, ihnss}!mhuxv!phw

smb (08/04/82)

You don't understand; it's really a problem in relativity.  The question
is whether or not angels have a rest mass, and at what velocity are they
dancing, which in turn determines their effective relativistic mass.  If
the mass in such a small volume is too high, it is quite clear that a
black hole will be formed, and we all know where angels end up when
they've been sucked into black holes....

wagner (08/08/82)

It also matters whether they are dancing all together in one
big circle, thereby moving their mass in unison, or whether
they are dancing in couples, exhibiting limited randomness,
or each dancing by itself, darting around randomly like gaseous
molecules.  Their temperature also matters - they will huddle
together if it is cold .... 

Michael Wagner, UTCS