Martin Schöneld
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195132182
- eISBN:
- 9780199786336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195132181.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores Kant’s second book, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755). Section 1 describes the context of the book and Kant’s critique of static and anthropocentric ...
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This chapter explores Kant’s second book, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755). Section 1 describes the context of the book and Kant’s critique of static and anthropocentric conceptions of nature by the Pietists, Physico-Theologians, Newton, and Wolff. Section 2 describes the goal of Kant’s teleology, its naturalized thrust toward well-ordered complexity or “relative perfection.” Section 3 examines the means of Kant”s teleology, the dynamic interplay of attractive and repulsive forces. Section 4 analyzes the application of teleology to cosmic phenomena such as the solar system, Wright’s earlier stipulation, Laplace’s later conjecture, and the eventual confirmation of Kant’s nebular hypothesis. Section 5 explores Kant’s arguments for life, humanity, and reason as products of cosmic evolution. Section 6 discusses Kant’s “static law” — that the mean planetary density determines the biospherical potential of reason — and its incongruity with the racism in Physical Geography (1756-60) and Beautiful and Sublime (1764). Section 7 describes Kant’s dynamic cosmology, explicates his “phoenix”-symbol, and discusses his various scientific aperçus.Less
This chapter explores Kant’s second book, Universal Natural History and Theory of the Heavens (1755). Section 1 describes the context of the book and Kant’s critique of static and anthropocentric conceptions of nature by the Pietists, Physico-Theologians, Newton, and Wolff. Section 2 describes the goal of Kant’s teleology, its naturalized thrust toward well-ordered complexity or “relative perfection.” Section 3 examines the means of Kant”s teleology, the dynamic interplay of attractive and repulsive forces. Section 4 analyzes the application of teleology to cosmic phenomena such as the solar system, Wright’s earlier stipulation, Laplace’s later conjecture, and the eventual confirmation of Kant’s nebular hypothesis. Section 5 explores Kant’s arguments for life, humanity, and reason as products of cosmic evolution. Section 6 discusses Kant’s “static law” — that the mean planetary density determines the biospherical potential of reason — and its incongruity with the racism in Physical Geography (1756-60) and Beautiful and Sublime (1764). Section 7 describes Kant’s dynamic cosmology, explicates his “phoenix”-symbol, and discusses his various scientific aperçus.
Martin Schöneld
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195132182
- eISBN:
- 9780199786336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195132181.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter explores Kant’s studies from 1754 to 1757, the application of his dynamic perspectives to fire, tides, the Earth’s rotation, climate, winds, and earthquakes. Section 1 surveys the ...
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This chapter explores Kant’s studies from 1754 to 1757, the application of his dynamic perspectives to fire, tides, the Earth’s rotation, climate, winds, and earthquakes. Section 1 surveys the background of Kant’s efforts in the 1750s, such as how his earthquake papers relate to the Lisbon tsunami (1755), and describes his co-discovery of sea wind patterns and his discovery of the monsoon dynamics. Section 2 examines Kant’s study of the fate of Earth’s rotation (1754) and its correct determination of the dynamic interplay among lunar period, tidal forces, oceanic friction, and the long-term slowdown of Earth’s rotation. Section 3 discusses Kant’s Master’s Thesis (1755), his chemical conjectures on fire, and his attempt to clarify the spatial energy field, the ether. Section 4 examines Kant’s qualitative approach to cosmological questions and his heuristic reliance on analogical reasoning.Less
This chapter explores Kant’s studies from 1754 to 1757, the application of his dynamic perspectives to fire, tides, the Earth’s rotation, climate, winds, and earthquakes. Section 1 surveys the background of Kant’s efforts in the 1750s, such as how his earthquake papers relate to the Lisbon tsunami (1755), and describes his co-discovery of sea wind patterns and his discovery of the monsoon dynamics. Section 2 examines Kant’s study of the fate of Earth’s rotation (1754) and its correct determination of the dynamic interplay among lunar period, tidal forces, oceanic friction, and the long-term slowdown of Earth’s rotation. Section 3 discusses Kant’s Master’s Thesis (1755), his chemical conjectures on fire, and his attempt to clarify the spatial energy field, the ether. Section 4 examines Kant’s qualitative approach to cosmological questions and his heuristic reliance on analogical reasoning.
Paul Russell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195110333
- eISBN:
- 9780199872084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195110333.003.0020
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Whatever the merits of the irreligious interpretation of the Treatise, it may be argued that there remain significant puzzles and problems relating to the coherence of Hume's aim to discredit and ...
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Whatever the merits of the irreligious interpretation of the Treatise, it may be argued that there remain significant puzzles and problems relating to the coherence of Hume's aim to discredit and dislodge the role of religion in human life (i.e. his “Lucretian mission”) when we try to accommodate developments and additions that appear in his later writings. More specifically, it may be argued that Hume's own observations about the origins and roots of religion in human nature, primarily as presented in his Natural History of Religion, show that his Lucretian mission is neither wise nor achievable. If this general line of criticism is correct, then Hume's Lucretian mission is both theoretically self‐refuting and practically self‐defeating. Moreover, considered in this light, Hume's project in the Treatise is fundamentally flawed as judged by his own claims and hypotheses concerning religion. This chapter argues that in respect of all these charges Hume is not guilty of any internal inconsistency.Less
Whatever the merits of the irreligious interpretation of the Treatise, it may be argued that there remain significant puzzles and problems relating to the coherence of Hume's aim to discredit and dislodge the role of religion in human life (i.e. his “Lucretian mission”) when we try to accommodate developments and additions that appear in his later writings. More specifically, it may be argued that Hume's own observations about the origins and roots of religion in human nature, primarily as presented in his Natural History of Religion, show that his Lucretian mission is neither wise nor achievable. If this general line of criticism is correct, then Hume's Lucretian mission is both theoretically self‐refuting and practically self‐defeating. Moreover, considered in this light, Hume's project in the Treatise is fundamentally flawed as judged by his own claims and hypotheses concerning religion. This chapter argues that in respect of all these charges Hume is not guilty of any internal inconsistency.
Ernest Campbell Mossner
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199243365
- eISBN:
- 9780191697241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199243365.003.0024
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The four dissertations which Andrew Millar accepted for publication had probably been composed between 1749 and 1751, after David Hume's return from Turin and before he plunged into active ...
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The four dissertations which Andrew Millar accepted for publication had probably been composed between 1749 and 1751, after David Hume's return from Turin and before he plunged into active composition of the History in the spring of 1752. The first, so coyly alluded to as ‘that which Allan Ramsay mentioned’, and again, as containing ‘a good deal of Literature’, is ‘The Natural History of Religion’. ‘Of the Passions’ is a brief reworking of Book II of the Treatise. ‘Of Tragedy’ is a short essay on the aesthetic problem of why grief in art is enjoyable. The fourth dissertation, ‘Some Considerations previous to Geometry & Natural Philosophy’ was presumably a reworking of Book I, Part II, of the Treatise. This fourth item was never actually set in type. Its history is summed up by Hume in a letter of January 25, 1772 to William Strahan, who had in the meanwhile succeeded Millar in the publishing business.Less
The four dissertations which Andrew Millar accepted for publication had probably been composed between 1749 and 1751, after David Hume's return from Turin and before he plunged into active composition of the History in the spring of 1752. The first, so coyly alluded to as ‘that which Allan Ramsay mentioned’, and again, as containing ‘a good deal of Literature’, is ‘The Natural History of Religion’. ‘Of the Passions’ is a brief reworking of Book II of the Treatise. ‘Of Tragedy’ is a short essay on the aesthetic problem of why grief in art is enjoyable. The fourth dissertation, ‘Some Considerations previous to Geometry & Natural Philosophy’ was presumably a reworking of Book I, Part II, of the Treatise. This fourth item was never actually set in type. Its history is summed up by Hume in a letter of January 25, 1772 to William Strahan, who had in the meanwhile succeeded Millar in the publishing business.
Christopher P. Iannini
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807835562
- eISBN:
- 9781469601922
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807838181_iannini.8
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter focuses on Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, arguing that his book modifies the basic emblematic techniques at the heart of Hans Sloane's Voyage to... Jamaica. The Natural ...
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This chapter focuses on Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, arguing that his book modifies the basic emblematic techniques at the heart of Hans Sloane's Voyage to... Jamaica. The Natural History of Carolina charts the rapid expansion of the West Indian plantation into southern North America and shows a new and shifting geography of plantation slavery and tropical agriculture in the Americas. The book is also designed to prompt reflection on the implications of the natural and human history of the colony for the future intellectual advancement and refinement of manners.Less
This chapter focuses on Mark Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, arguing that his book modifies the basic emblematic techniques at the heart of Hans Sloane's Voyage to... Jamaica. The Natural History of Carolina charts the rapid expansion of the West Indian plantation into southern North America and shows a new and shifting geography of plantation slavery and tropical agriculture in the Americas. The book is also designed to prompt reflection on the implications of the natural and human history of the colony for the future intellectual advancement and refinement of manners.
Karen A. Rader and Victoria E. M. Cain
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226079660
- eISBN:
- 9780226079837
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226079837.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Between the 1890s and the 1910s, a young generation of reformers inspired by a transnational movement known as “the New Museum Idea” agreed that natural history museums had a social responsibility to ...
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Between the 1890s and the 1910s, a young generation of reformers inspired by a transnational movement known as “the New Museum Idea” agreed that natural history museums had a social responsibility to reach and teach all citizens about nature and biology. Convinced that museum displays could and should become powerful pedagogical tools, reformers persuaded their colleagues to build collections and displays that would appeal to both scientists and the lay public. A small but influential group of reformers, known as “museum men,” led effort to realize exhibits’ educational potential and to establish museums as major forces in American science education. Though many argued over the shape and extent of museum reform, by the mid-1910s, reformers had persuaded most staff members to rally behind their tripartite vision of the museum as a place for the preservation of specimens, the production of scientific knowledge, and an institution of popular education.Less
Between the 1890s and the 1910s, a young generation of reformers inspired by a transnational movement known as “the New Museum Idea” agreed that natural history museums had a social responsibility to reach and teach all citizens about nature and biology. Convinced that museum displays could and should become powerful pedagogical tools, reformers persuaded their colleagues to build collections and displays that would appeal to both scientists and the lay public. A small but influential group of reformers, known as “museum men,” led effort to realize exhibits’ educational potential and to establish museums as major forces in American science education. Though many argued over the shape and extent of museum reform, by the mid-1910s, reformers had persuaded most staff members to rally behind their tripartite vision of the museum as a place for the preservation of specimens, the production of scientific knowledge, and an institution of popular education.
Gareth Wood
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199651337
- eISBN:
- 9780191741180
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199651337.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter is in two sections and offers a synthesis of the conclusions of the book and relates them to Marías's penultimate and longest novel, Tu rostro mañana. Hence, the first section of the ...
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This chapter is in two sections and offers a synthesis of the conclusions of the book and relates them to Marías's penultimate and longest novel, Tu rostro mañana. Hence, the first section of the chapter offers a close reading of the novel and suggests ways in which Marías develops and adds layers of complexity to what had been the preoccupations of the previous novels discussed in this study, preoccupations that include betrayal, the unknowability of others, the Spanish Civil War, intervention of the state in the life of the private individual. The first section traces the development of these preoccupations in both the novel and in Marías's journalism in the period of the novel's gestation. The chapter's second section shows how Marías has continued to use translation, intertextuality, and palimpsest as a means of developing the characterization in TRM. Close analysis is given of the quotations and paraphrasing of Shakespeare's King Henry V, W. G Sebald's On the Natural History of Destruction, Milton's sonnets, Sefton Delmer's autobiography, and Robert Louis Stevenson's poetry.Less
This chapter is in two sections and offers a synthesis of the conclusions of the book and relates them to Marías's penultimate and longest novel, Tu rostro mañana. Hence, the first section of the chapter offers a close reading of the novel and suggests ways in which Marías develops and adds layers of complexity to what had been the preoccupations of the previous novels discussed in this study, preoccupations that include betrayal, the unknowability of others, the Spanish Civil War, intervention of the state in the life of the private individual. The first section traces the development of these preoccupations in both the novel and in Marías's journalism in the period of the novel's gestation. The chapter's second section shows how Marías has continued to use translation, intertextuality, and palimpsest as a means of developing the characterization in TRM. Close analysis is given of the quotations and paraphrasing of Shakespeare's King Henry V, W. G Sebald's On the Natural History of Destruction, Milton's sonnets, Sefton Delmer's autobiography, and Robert Louis Stevenson's poetry.
Karen A. Rader and Victoria E. M. Cain
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226079660
- eISBN:
- 9780226079837
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226079837.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Habitat dioramas proliferated in American natural history museums in the 1910s, 1920s, and early 1930s, transforming the social and political dynamics of museum halls. Initially, curators, ...
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Habitat dioramas proliferated in American natural history museums in the 1910s, 1920s, and early 1930s, transforming the social and political dynamics of museum halls. Initially, curators, administrators, trustees and the public enthusiastically supported investment in the expensive displays, which promised to further educational, scientific and institutional goals. As museums built more dioramas, however, these displays awakened new animosity between staff members, altering staff dynamics and making clear how difficult it would be to accomplish popular science education, protect and collect specimens, and produce scientific knowledge simultaneously. As the exhibits grew in number and status, and the Great Depression placed new financial strains on museums, these clashes intensified. United only a few years earlier by an ambitious vision of the New Museum Idea, museum professionals now bickered amongst themselves about what museums should be and do.Less
Habitat dioramas proliferated in American natural history museums in the 1910s, 1920s, and early 1930s, transforming the social and political dynamics of museum halls. Initially, curators, administrators, trustees and the public enthusiastically supported investment in the expensive displays, which promised to further educational, scientific and institutional goals. As museums built more dioramas, however, these displays awakened new animosity between staff members, altering staff dynamics and making clear how difficult it would be to accomplish popular science education, protect and collect specimens, and produce scientific knowledge simultaneously. As the exhibits grew in number and status, and the Great Depression placed new financial strains on museums, these clashes intensified. United only a few years earlier by an ambitious vision of the New Museum Idea, museum professionals now bickered amongst themselves about what museums should be and do.
Michael P. Zuckert and Catherine H. Zuckert
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226135731
- eISBN:
- 9780226135878
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226135878.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The Lockean form of modernity was generally more attractive than the Machiavellian and far more successful. Locke appealed to what seemed a version of traditional natural law and cast his argument in ...
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The Lockean form of modernity was generally more attractive than the Machiavellian and far more successful. Locke appealed to what seemed a version of traditional natural law and cast his argument in many places in theistic terms. In Natural Right and History Strauss argued that this appearance was mostly a clever subterfuge. The chapter in Natural Right and History had been written prior to the 1954 appearance of a text, the Essays on the Law of Nature, that had been found in Locke’s papers. The new text was sometimes seen as a definitive rebuttal to Strauss’s version of Locke. In an essay on this new text Strauss vindicates his original reading and, building on Locke’s presentation, goes on to offer his own serious refutation of natural law philosophy, in particular the version of that doctrine associated with Thomas Aquinas.Less
The Lockean form of modernity was generally more attractive than the Machiavellian and far more successful. Locke appealed to what seemed a version of traditional natural law and cast his argument in many places in theistic terms. In Natural Right and History Strauss argued that this appearance was mostly a clever subterfuge. The chapter in Natural Right and History had been written prior to the 1954 appearance of a text, the Essays on the Law of Nature, that had been found in Locke’s papers. The new text was sometimes seen as a definitive rebuttal to Strauss’s version of Locke. In an essay on this new text Strauss vindicates his original reading and, building on Locke’s presentation, goes on to offer his own serious refutation of natural law philosophy, in particular the version of that doctrine associated with Thomas Aquinas.
Mary Beagon
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198299905
- eISBN:
- 9780191707803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299905.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The only extant written account of the remarkable exploits of M. Sergius Silus, is to be found halfway through book 7 of Pliny's Natural History. If we think of book 7 as falling into three main ...
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The only extant written account of the remarkable exploits of M. Sergius Silus, is to be found halfway through book 7 of Pliny's Natural History. If we think of book 7 as falling into three main sections, Sergius appears in the middle one, among the statistics and achievements of human maturity. This chapter argues that the elevation of Sergius to the status of pre-eminent exemplum virtutis in the Natural History owes a great deal to the cultural and philosophical atmosphere in which Pliny was writing; more, perhaps, than it does to the actual historical significance of the hero himself. The key lies in Pliny's final words: ‘Others certainly have conquered men but Sergius conquered fortune also’; a statement that reflects a popular philosophical paradox by which virtue in effect turns failure into success. Its significance is, however, enhanced by consideration of the final chapter of Sergius' story in Pliny.Less
The only extant written account of the remarkable exploits of M. Sergius Silus, is to be found halfway through book 7 of Pliny's Natural History. If we think of book 7 as falling into three main sections, Sergius appears in the middle one, among the statistics and achievements of human maturity. This chapter argues that the elevation of Sergius to the status of pre-eminent exemplum virtutis in the Natural History owes a great deal to the cultural and philosophical atmosphere in which Pliny was writing; more, perhaps, than it does to the actual historical significance of the hero himself. The key lies in Pliny's final words: ‘Others certainly have conquered men but Sergius conquered fortune also’; a statement that reflects a popular philosophical paradox by which virtue in effect turns failure into success. Its significance is, however, enhanced by consideration of the final chapter of Sergius' story in Pliny.
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226169149
- eISBN:
- 9780226169194
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226169194.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon argued that all animals in the New World were degenerate—smaller, and less robust—than those found in the Old World. But it was hardly the fault of these New World ...
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Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon argued that all animals in the New World were degenerate—smaller, and less robust—than those found in the Old World. But it was hardly the fault of these New World creatures that they existed in degenerate form. In Buffon's mind, the fault lay with the American Indians who had long ruled the land. They had failed to conquer nature, and so the land remained wet and cold. And for Buffon, wet and cold environments led to degenerate life forms, leaving him free to make sweeping claims about the superior life forms to be found in the Old World—which, of course, included his own beloved France. The birthplace of these arguments about New World degeneracy—Buffon's massive, thirty-six-volume Natural History: General and Particular (Histoire Naturelle)—is a massive encyclopedia that was published over the course of nearly four decades (1749–1788). It was in this all-encompassing work on nature that Buffon set out his theory about degenerate animals and humans in America.Less
Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon argued that all animals in the New World were degenerate—smaller, and less robust—than those found in the Old World. But it was hardly the fault of these New World creatures that they existed in degenerate form. In Buffon's mind, the fault lay with the American Indians who had long ruled the land. They had failed to conquer nature, and so the land remained wet and cold. And for Buffon, wet and cold environments led to degenerate life forms, leaving him free to make sweeping claims about the superior life forms to be found in the Old World—which, of course, included his own beloved France. The birthplace of these arguments about New World degeneracy—Buffon's massive, thirty-six-volume Natural History: General and Particular (Histoire Naturelle)—is a massive encyclopedia that was published over the course of nearly four decades (1749–1788). It was in this all-encompassing work on nature that Buffon set out his theory about degenerate animals and humans in America.
Taisoo Park
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520098428
- eISBN:
- 9780520916029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520098428.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This chapter examines specimens picked from the Isaacs–Kidd midwater trawl (IKMT) samples selected from the collections available at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). It notes that ...
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This chapter examines specimens picked from the Isaacs–Kidd midwater trawl (IKMT) samples selected from the collections available at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). It notes that additional specimens were obtained from the IKMT, plankton net, and the MOCNESS (Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System) samples available at the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution (USNM), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Rhode Island (URI). It examines a total of 148 samples (one plankton net, 126 IKMT and 21 MOCNESS samples) collected throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. It accounts the sources, the areas they represent, the number of examples examined and the extent of geographic coverage for each ocean. It notes that citation of type material includes the number of specimens, collecting gear, sampling depth, source, expedition, cruise number, station number, latitude and longitude, area, and date of collection.Less
This chapter examines specimens picked from the Isaacs–Kidd midwater trawl (IKMT) samples selected from the collections available at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). It notes that additional specimens were obtained from the IKMT, plankton net, and the MOCNESS (Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System) samples available at the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution (USNM), the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Rhode Island (URI). It examines a total of 148 samples (one plankton net, 126 IKMT and 21 MOCNESS samples) collected throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. It accounts the sources, the areas they represent, the number of examples examined and the extent of geographic coverage for each ocean. It notes that citation of type material includes the number of specimens, collecting gear, sampling depth, source, expedition, cruise number, station number, latitude and longitude, area, and date of collection.
Ann Thomson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199236190
- eISBN:
- 9780191717161
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199236190.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, European Modern History
Examining the development of a secular, purely material conception of human beings in the early Enlightenment, this book provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual culture of this period, and ...
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Examining the development of a secular, purely material conception of human beings in the early Enlightenment, this book provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual culture of this period, and challenges certain influential interpretations of irreligious thought and the ‘Radical Enlightenment’. Beginning with the debate on the soul in England, in which political and religious concerns were intertwined, and ending with the eruption of materialism onto the public stage in mid 18th‐century France, this book looks at attempts to explain how the material brain thinks without the need for an immaterial and immortal soul. It shows how this current of thinking fed into the later 18th‐century ‘Natural History of Man’, the earlier roots of which have generally been ignored. Although much attention has been paid to the atheistic French materialists, their link to the preceding period has been studied only partially, and the current interest in what is called the ‘Radical Enlightenment’ has helped to obscure rather than enlighten this history. By bringing out the importance of both Protestant theological debates and medical thinking in England, and by following the different debates on the soul in Holland and France, this book shows that attempts to find a single coherent strand of radical irreligious thought running through the early Enlightenment, coming to fruition in the second half of the 18th century, ignore the multiple currents which composed Enlightenment thinking.Less
Examining the development of a secular, purely material conception of human beings in the early Enlightenment, this book provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual culture of this period, and challenges certain influential interpretations of irreligious thought and the ‘Radical Enlightenment’. Beginning with the debate on the soul in England, in which political and religious concerns were intertwined, and ending with the eruption of materialism onto the public stage in mid 18th‐century France, this book looks at attempts to explain how the material brain thinks without the need for an immaterial and immortal soul. It shows how this current of thinking fed into the later 18th‐century ‘Natural History of Man’, the earlier roots of which have generally been ignored. Although much attention has been paid to the atheistic French materialists, their link to the preceding period has been studied only partially, and the current interest in what is called the ‘Radical Enlightenment’ has helped to obscure rather than enlighten this history. By bringing out the importance of both Protestant theological debates and medical thinking in England, and by following the different debates on the soul in Holland and France, this book shows that attempts to find a single coherent strand of radical irreligious thought running through the early Enlightenment, coming to fruition in the second half of the 18th century, ignore the multiple currents which composed Enlightenment thinking.
Sue Leaf
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816675647
- eISBN:
- 9781452947457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816675647.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines the birth of the Minnesota Natural History Museum. The museum at the zoology building was full due to the large dioramas. Unfortunately for Thomas Sandler Roberts, the state ...
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This chapter examines the birth of the Minnesota Natural History Museum. The museum at the zoology building was full due to the large dioramas. Unfortunately for Thomas Sandler Roberts, the state legislature passed up on the $125,000 offer of James Ford Bell to build a new building. Bell and Roberts then urged the University of Minnesota to apply to The Public Works Administration for funds, who accepted the offer to help with the building of a museum. Construction began on May 1939. The chapter then describes Roberts’ second marriage to Agnes Williams Harley, the sister of Carroll Williams who had been his friend back at medical school. Roberts defined it as a marriage of “companionship”. In addition to loneliness, chronic bronchitis plagued him. The seventy-five year old Roberts had battled the illness since before Jennie’s death, and had never completely cleared up.Less
This chapter examines the birth of the Minnesota Natural History Museum. The museum at the zoology building was full due to the large dioramas. Unfortunately for Thomas Sandler Roberts, the state legislature passed up on the $125,000 offer of James Ford Bell to build a new building. Bell and Roberts then urged the University of Minnesota to apply to The Public Works Administration for funds, who accepted the offer to help with the building of a museum. Construction began on May 1939. The chapter then describes Roberts’ second marriage to Agnes Williams Harley, the sister of Carroll Williams who had been his friend back at medical school. Roberts defined it as a marriage of “companionship”. In addition to loneliness, chronic bronchitis plagued him. The seventy-five year old Roberts had battled the illness since before Jennie’s death, and had never completely cleared up.
Christopher Hanlon
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190842529
- eISBN:
- 9780190842550
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190842529.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter examines Emerson’s 1870–71 lecture series Natural History of Intellect, which formed as Emerson’s experience of memory loss became profound, and registers its author’s shifting protocols ...
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This chapter examines Emerson’s 1870–71 lecture series Natural History of Intellect, which formed as Emerson’s experience of memory loss became profound, and registers its author’s shifting protocols for producing texts as he contended with changing patterns of cognition. Natural History of Intellect reflects upon Emerson’s increasing reliance upon his daughter, Ellen Tucker Emerson, who assisted Emerson as he lectured and who eventually reshaped Emerson’s manuscript materials. Entering into conversation with other literary historians who challenge an account of Emerson’s thought that enshrines Emersonian individualism to the exclusion of more communal dimensions of transcendentalism, this chapter contends that the lecture series theorizes the terms of his collaboration with Ellen in ways that break with Emerson’s earlier tendency to lionize insular consciousness and to isolate the body from the mind, offering instead an account of first-person thought as if always interpenetrated with the thinking of other people.Less
This chapter examines Emerson’s 1870–71 lecture series Natural History of Intellect, which formed as Emerson’s experience of memory loss became profound, and registers its author’s shifting protocols for producing texts as he contended with changing patterns of cognition. Natural History of Intellect reflects upon Emerson’s increasing reliance upon his daughter, Ellen Tucker Emerson, who assisted Emerson as he lectured and who eventually reshaped Emerson’s manuscript materials. Entering into conversation with other literary historians who challenge an account of Emerson’s thought that enshrines Emersonian individualism to the exclusion of more communal dimensions of transcendentalism, this chapter contends that the lecture series theorizes the terms of his collaboration with Ellen in ways that break with Emerson’s earlier tendency to lionize insular consciousness and to isolate the body from the mind, offering instead an account of first-person thought as if always interpenetrated with the thinking of other people.
David J. Meltzer
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226293226
- eISBN:
- 9780226293363
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226293363.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
In 1872, Charles Abbott started finding artifacts in Delaware River gravels at Trenton, NJ, similar to European paleoliths. That discovery caught the eye of Harvard's Frederic Putnam, who provided ...
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In 1872, Charles Abbott started finding artifacts in Delaware River gravels at Trenton, NJ, similar to European paleoliths. That discovery caught the eye of Harvard's Frederic Putnam, who provided financial aid, moral support and scientific respectability to the cause. Geologist George F. Wright seized the challenge of ascertaining the age of Abbott's finds. It was no easy task. Trenton was south of the limit of glacial advance by 60 miles, and had multiple gravel layers. Which were the same age as the glacier, and which were more recent? How did paleoliths fit that sequence, and the broader history of North American glaciation, then becoming more complicated with the realization there had been more than one glacial episode? The age of Abbott's paleoliths landed in a tug of war between competing camps. Nonetheless, he was certain the specimens were glacial in age, and in January of 1881 they took center stage at a Boston Society of Natural History meeting, where the city's scientific elite rose to bear witness to his discoveries. In scarcely a decade Abbott had shown that the future of American archaeology might be deep in its geological past.Less
In 1872, Charles Abbott started finding artifacts in Delaware River gravels at Trenton, NJ, similar to European paleoliths. That discovery caught the eye of Harvard's Frederic Putnam, who provided financial aid, moral support and scientific respectability to the cause. Geologist George F. Wright seized the challenge of ascertaining the age of Abbott's finds. It was no easy task. Trenton was south of the limit of glacial advance by 60 miles, and had multiple gravel layers. Which were the same age as the glacier, and which were more recent? How did paleoliths fit that sequence, and the broader history of North American glaciation, then becoming more complicated with the realization there had been more than one glacial episode? The age of Abbott's paleoliths landed in a tug of war between competing camps. Nonetheless, he was certain the specimens were glacial in age, and in January of 1881 they took center stage at a Boston Society of Natural History meeting, where the city's scientific elite rose to bear witness to his discoveries. In scarcely a decade Abbott had shown that the future of American archaeology might be deep in its geological past.
Scott MacDonald
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190052126
- eISBN:
- 9780190052164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190052126.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
The introduction creates a context for a wide range of avant-doc films (that is, films that work in the zone between conventional documentary and what has usually been called “avant-garde” ...
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The introduction creates a context for a wide range of avant-doc films (that is, films that work in the zone between conventional documentary and what has usually been called “avant-garde” filmmaking), locating these films within the tradition established a century ago by the development of the habitat diorama of animal life, specifically the Akeley Hall of African Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The habitat diorama provides precise documentation of the specifics of animal life that is, insofar as possible, devoid of political argument. The aim of the habitat diorama, and of the films discussed throughout the book, is to be as purely educational as cinema can be: the creator of the habitat dioramas and the film documents discussed provide precise visions of what the makers believe we need to see, in order to understand more of the world around us.Less
The introduction creates a context for a wide range of avant-doc films (that is, films that work in the zone between conventional documentary and what has usually been called “avant-garde” filmmaking), locating these films within the tradition established a century ago by the development of the habitat diorama of animal life, specifically the Akeley Hall of African Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The habitat diorama provides precise documentation of the specifics of animal life that is, insofar as possible, devoid of political argument. The aim of the habitat diorama, and of the films discussed throughout the book, is to be as purely educational as cinema can be: the creator of the habitat dioramas and the film documents discussed provide precise visions of what the makers believe we need to see, in order to understand more of the world around us.
Sue Leaf
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816675647
- eISBN:
- 9781452947457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816675647.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines the final years of Thomas Sadler Roberts, who held the post of director of the Minnesota Natural History Museum until his death. At nearly eighty-two, Roberts no longer moved ...
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This chapter examines the final years of Thomas Sadler Roberts, who held the post of director of the Minnesota Natural History Museum until his death. At nearly eighty-two, Roberts no longer moved briskly, but the light in his eyes was still keen and reflective. The museum staff were in the thick of things, coping with the move into the new building. However, they had just barely settled into the routine in the new museum in 1940 when war broke out. World War II affected the operations of the museum as staff members were drafted to serve. By 1942, there were only three main staff members left: Roberts, and his longtime associates William Kilgore, and Walter Breckenridge. The chapter concludes by describing the last moments of Roberts. On April 17, Roberts was rushed to the Eitel Hospital after a heart attack. He passed away two days later.Less
This chapter examines the final years of Thomas Sadler Roberts, who held the post of director of the Minnesota Natural History Museum until his death. At nearly eighty-two, Roberts no longer moved briskly, but the light in his eyes was still keen and reflective. The museum staff were in the thick of things, coping with the move into the new building. However, they had just barely settled into the routine in the new museum in 1940 when war broke out. World War II affected the operations of the museum as staff members were drafted to serve. By 1942, there were only three main staff members left: Roberts, and his longtime associates William Kilgore, and Walter Breckenridge. The chapter concludes by describing the last moments of Roberts. On April 17, Roberts was rushed to the Eitel Hospital after a heart attack. He passed away two days later.
Raf de Bont
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780226141879
- eISBN:
- 9780226141909
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226141909.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
This chapter challenges the assumption that the natural history museums of around 1900 were dusty, old-fashioned centers of accumulation and cataloguing. The chapter argues that, by setting up ...
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This chapter challenges the assumption that the natural history museums of around 1900 were dusty, old-fashioned centers of accumulation and cataloguing. The chapter argues that, by setting up annexes of field stations, museums could actually play an important role in rejuvenating the life sciences. For substantiating this claim the chapter focuses on the Natural History Museum of Brussels. In the first decades of the twentieth century this museum set up a cluster of biological stations, which were mostly ill-equipped and often of a temporary nature, but which proved decisive in the transformation of the institution from a place of classification and exhibition into a self-declared “exploration museum”. As such, the Brussels Natural History Museum played an important role in putting the study of nature in nature on the agenda of the local scientific community.Less
This chapter challenges the assumption that the natural history museums of around 1900 were dusty, old-fashioned centers of accumulation and cataloguing. The chapter argues that, by setting up annexes of field stations, museums could actually play an important role in rejuvenating the life sciences. For substantiating this claim the chapter focuses on the Natural History Museum of Brussels. In the first decades of the twentieth century this museum set up a cluster of biological stations, which were mostly ill-equipped and often of a temporary nature, but which proved decisive in the transformation of the institution from a place of classification and exhibition into a self-declared “exploration museum”. As such, the Brussels Natural History Museum played an important role in putting the study of nature in nature on the agenda of the local scientific community.
David M. Williams, Kåre Bremer, and Sandra Knapp
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520267725
- eISBN:
- 9780520947993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520267725.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
By way of introduction, this short piece describes a few subjects that attracted Chris Humphries's attention during his thirty-plus years as botanist and systematist. These include botanical ...
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By way of introduction, this short piece describes a few subjects that attracted Chris Humphries's attention during his thirty-plus years as botanist and systematist. These include botanical cladistics, cladistics and daisies, and biogeographic cladistics. Humphries joined the Department of Botany of the Natural History Museum in 1972 replacing Alexsandr Melderis, then head of the European Herbarium. His first task was to finish his thesis and obtain his PhD degree, which he did in 1973. His study was on species of Argyranthemum, a genus of daisy in the family Asteraceae, and is a fine example of a morphological investigation (with a little phytochemistry) and anatomical interpretation, with comments on their relationships and geographic distribution. Humphries's studies on Asteraceae to one side, the next period in his career focused almost exclusively on biogeography, and in 1979 he published his first considered paper on the subject, “Endemism and Evolution in Macaronesia.” Humphries blazed a trail for botany at the Natural History Museum and beyond — and his influence extended to other museum departments.Less
By way of introduction, this short piece describes a few subjects that attracted Chris Humphries's attention during his thirty-plus years as botanist and systematist. These include botanical cladistics, cladistics and daisies, and biogeographic cladistics. Humphries joined the Department of Botany of the Natural History Museum in 1972 replacing Alexsandr Melderis, then head of the European Herbarium. His first task was to finish his thesis and obtain his PhD degree, which he did in 1973. His study was on species of Argyranthemum, a genus of daisy in the family Asteraceae, and is a fine example of a morphological investigation (with a little phytochemistry) and anatomical interpretation, with comments on their relationships and geographic distribution. Humphries's studies on Asteraceae to one side, the next period in his career focused almost exclusively on biogeography, and in 1979 he published his first considered paper on the subject, “Endemism and Evolution in Macaronesia.” Humphries blazed a trail for botany at the Natural History Museum and beyond — and his influence extended to other museum departments.
