Kevin C. Karnes
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195368666
- eISBN:
- 9780199867547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368666.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter offers a substantial reevaluation of Hanslick's work by situating it at the center of late 19th-century debates about the future of the discipline he helped to found. Hired by the ...
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This chapter offers a substantial reevaluation of Hanslick's work by situating it at the center of late 19th-century debates about the future of the discipline he helped to found. Hired by the University of Vienna in 1856 to advance an empiricist movement in art-historical study inspired by the work of the philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart, Hanslick veered sharply from the Herbartian path within a decade of his appointment. Giving up his attempts to expand his formalist treatise On the Musically Beautiful into a systematic aesthetics in the 1860s, he determined to dedicate himself to the study of cultural history in the post-Hegelian tradition of August Wilhelm Ambros, as evidenced in his second book, History of Concert Life in Vienna (1869). The chapter concludes by arguing that it was Hanslick's abandonment of Herbartianism, rather than his early formalism, that defined his reputation among university colleagues during the final quarter of the century.Less
This chapter offers a substantial reevaluation of Hanslick's work by situating it at the center of late 19th-century debates about the future of the discipline he helped to found. Hired by the University of Vienna in 1856 to advance an empiricist movement in art-historical study inspired by the work of the philosopher Johann Friedrich Herbart, Hanslick veered sharply from the Herbartian path within a decade of his appointment. Giving up his attempts to expand his formalist treatise On the Musically Beautiful into a systematic aesthetics in the 1860s, he determined to dedicate himself to the study of cultural history in the post-Hegelian tradition of August Wilhelm Ambros, as evidenced in his second book, History of Concert Life in Vienna (1869). The chapter concludes by arguing that it was Hanslick's abandonment of Herbartianism, rather than his early formalism, that defined his reputation among university colleagues during the final quarter of the century.
Laura Jockusch
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199764556
- eISBN:
- 9780199979578
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199764556.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History, Historiography
The conclusion examines similarities and differences among the featured commissions and documentation centers and evaluates their importance for Holocaust studies. It argues that part of the reason ...
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The conclusion examines similarities and differences among the featured commissions and documentation centers and evaluates their importance for Holocaust studies. It argues that part of the reason why the early postwar documentation initiatives did not receive the attention of historians who were not survivors themselves was that their methods at the time were anathema to the rules of academic history writing which came to dominate the study of the Holocaust. For decades, the latter remained perpetrator-focused and regime-centered, taking a “top-down” perspective on the Jewish catastrophe. By contrast, the survivors’ popular and interdisciplinary approach relied on testimony and memory and focused on writing the history of everyday life and death of European Jews under Nazi rule from the bottom up. Only in the past two decades did similar approaches enter the academic study of the Holocaust and historians begin to consider both victim and perpetrator source to write an integrated history of the Holocaust.Less
The conclusion examines similarities and differences among the featured commissions and documentation centers and evaluates their importance for Holocaust studies. It argues that part of the reason why the early postwar documentation initiatives did not receive the attention of historians who were not survivors themselves was that their methods at the time were anathema to the rules of academic history writing which came to dominate the study of the Holocaust. For decades, the latter remained perpetrator-focused and regime-centered, taking a “top-down” perspective on the Jewish catastrophe. By contrast, the survivors’ popular and interdisciplinary approach relied on testimony and memory and focused on writing the history of everyday life and death of European Jews under Nazi rule from the bottom up. Only in the past two decades did similar approaches enter the academic study of the Holocaust and historians begin to consider both victim and perpetrator source to write an integrated history of the Holocaust.
Dipesh Chakrabarty
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226100449
- eISBN:
- 9780226240244
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226240244.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The Introduction explains why and how this book came to be written and introduces Sarkar and Sardesai, the two main historians at the center of the narrative. It situates their historiographical ...
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The Introduction explains why and how this book came to be written and introduces Sarkar and Sardesai, the two main historians at the center of the narrative. It situates their historiographical endeavours and debates with their contemporaries on historical methods within some general propositions regarding the tensions that characterize what may be described as the two lives of the academic discipline of history: its regulated life in educational and research institutions (described here as the discipline’s “cloistered” life); and its relatively unregulated life in the world of “amateur” historians, here described as history’s “public life.” From a general discussion of the distinction proposed between the “public” and “cloistered” lives of all social-science disciplines, this section argues that history remains specifically vulnerable to the pressures emanating from its “public life,” and proposes that methodological debates in history should be viewed not only in their own abstract terms but also in the context of the tensions that exist between the two lives of the discipline, something that varies across time and geographical regions. This section also explains the colonial context in which Sarkar and other nationalist-minded Indian historians debated various versions of history in public, which shaped the academic discipline of history.Less
The Introduction explains why and how this book came to be written and introduces Sarkar and Sardesai, the two main historians at the center of the narrative. It situates their historiographical endeavours and debates with their contemporaries on historical methods within some general propositions regarding the tensions that characterize what may be described as the two lives of the academic discipline of history: its regulated life in educational and research institutions (described here as the discipline’s “cloistered” life); and its relatively unregulated life in the world of “amateur” historians, here described as history’s “public life.” From a general discussion of the distinction proposed between the “public” and “cloistered” lives of all social-science disciplines, this section argues that history remains specifically vulnerable to the pressures emanating from its “public life,” and proposes that methodological debates in history should be viewed not only in their own abstract terms but also in the context of the tensions that exist between the two lives of the discipline, something that varies across time and geographical regions. This section also explains the colonial context in which Sarkar and other nationalist-minded Indian historians debated various versions of history in public, which shaped the academic discipline of history.
David Fergusson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199569380
- eISBN:
- 9780191702051
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569380.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter explores the scope of neo-Darwinism in relation to the history of life on earth, and asks whether its explanatory power can extend to religious belief and activity. First, it discusses ...
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This chapter explores the scope of neo-Darwinism in relation to the history of life on earth, and asks whether its explanatory power can extend to religious belief and activity. First, it discusses the compatibility of design and evolution. It argues that Darwin's case illustrates the fusion of personal and intellectual factors in one's faith position, and raises the question of whether one's beliefs can ever reach a stasis or become altogether free of incoherence. Second, it turns to the application of evolutionary psychology or cognitive science to the phenomenon of religion. It suggests that cognitive science has an important contribution to make towards an understanding of religion.Less
This chapter explores the scope of neo-Darwinism in relation to the history of life on earth, and asks whether its explanatory power can extend to religious belief and activity. First, it discusses the compatibility of design and evolution. It argues that Darwin's case illustrates the fusion of personal and intellectual factors in one's faith position, and raises the question of whether one's beliefs can ever reach a stasis or become altogether free of incoherence. Second, it turns to the application of evolutionary psychology or cognitive science to the phenomenon of religion. It suggests that cognitive science has an important contribution to make towards an understanding of religion.
Davide Tarizzo
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780816691593
- eISBN:
- 9781452958835
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816691593.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Examines the emergence and the metaphysical meaning of “autonomous life” in the fields of philosophy (Kant, Fichte, Schelling) and of biology (from Darwin to Dawkins), then explaining where, why and ...
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Examines the emergence and the metaphysical meaning of “autonomous life” in the fields of philosophy (Kant, Fichte, Schelling) and of biology (from Darwin to Dawkins), then explaining where, why and how this metaphysical concept is still at work in contemporary thought (Freud, Canguilhem, Dennett).Less
Examines the emergence and the metaphysical meaning of “autonomous life” in the fields of philosophy (Kant, Fichte, Schelling) and of biology (from Darwin to Dawkins), then explaining where, why and how this metaphysical concept is still at work in contemporary thought (Freud, Canguilhem, Dennett).
Jacques Balthazart
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199838820
- eISBN:
- 9780199919512
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199838820.003.0012
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Neuroendocrine and Autonomic, Development
This chapter reviews the various theories that have been advanced to explain homosexuality from an environmental perspective and shows why these theories, although they are still widespread, are not ...
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This chapter reviews the various theories that have been advanced to explain homosexuality from an environmental perspective and shows why these theories, although they are still widespread, are not satisfactory and are not supported by experimental evidence. The arguments presented here concern exclusively homosexual orientation as defined in Chapter 1: exclusive or preferential sexual attraction for persons of the same sex. It considers psychoanalytic theories, theories based on learning derived from behaviorism, and theories based on “social constructivism”. It argues that the evolutionary history of life on earth means that we can find evidence of the causes of human behavior through the study of similar behaviors in other animals, and the role of neurons in initiating and controlling our actions.Less
This chapter reviews the various theories that have been advanced to explain homosexuality from an environmental perspective and shows why these theories, although they are still widespread, are not satisfactory and are not supported by experimental evidence. The arguments presented here concern exclusively homosexual orientation as defined in Chapter 1: exclusive or preferential sexual attraction for persons of the same sex. It considers psychoanalytic theories, theories based on learning derived from behaviorism, and theories based on “social constructivism”. It argues that the evolutionary history of life on earth means that we can find evidence of the causes of human behavior through the study of similar behaviors in other animals, and the role of neurons in initiating and controlling our actions.
Ian Rocksborough-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041662
- eISBN:
- 9780252050336
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041662.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
In Chicago, many African American pubic-history activists initially connected their work to struggles for racial justice partly in the tradition of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and ...
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In Chicago, many African American pubic-history activists initially connected their work to struggles for racial justice partly in the tradition of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). In an effort to continue the public-history traditions of the ASNLH (such as Negro History Week, which later became Black History Week or Month), chapter 1 outlines how Chicago black public schoolteachers and some of their white allies took initiatives to promote black-history curriculum reforms in the context of wartime America. This chapter of the book examines the curriculum-reform projects of South Side Chicago teachers, like Madeline Morgan Stratton Morris and her husband, Samuel Stratton, who continued the pre<EN>-Cold War roots of the black-history movement in Chicago.Less
In Chicago, many African American pubic-history activists initially connected their work to struggles for racial justice partly in the tradition of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). In an effort to continue the public-history traditions of the ASNLH (such as Negro History Week, which later became Black History Week or Month), chapter 1 outlines how Chicago black public schoolteachers and some of their white allies took initiatives to promote black-history curriculum reforms in the context of wartime America. This chapter of the book examines the curriculum-reform projects of South Side Chicago teachers, like Madeline Morgan Stratton Morris and her husband, Samuel Stratton, who continued the pre<EN>-Cold War roots of the black-history movement in Chicago.
Burnis R. Morris
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496814074
- eISBN:
- 9781496814111
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496814074.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
As an opinion journalist, Woodson wrote hundreds of newspaper columns on a variety of subjects. Some involved personal feuds. Others involved promotion of books he was publishing through Associated ...
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As an opinion journalist, Woodson wrote hundreds of newspaper columns on a variety of subjects. Some involved personal feuds. Others involved promotion of books he was publishing through Associated Publishers, his publishing firm, and his history movement through the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. He also engaged readers on politics and an array of international issues. This chapter explores the themes of the columns for their news and promotional value and provides a rare listing of all his known newspaper bylines.Less
As an opinion journalist, Woodson wrote hundreds of newspaper columns on a variety of subjects. Some involved personal feuds. Others involved promotion of books he was publishing through Associated Publishers, his publishing firm, and his history movement through the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. He also engaged readers on politics and an array of international issues. This chapter explores the themes of the columns for their news and promotional value and provides a rare listing of all his known newspaper bylines.
Dipesh Chakrabarty
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226100449
- eISBN:
- 9780226240244
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226240244.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Surveying more than 1,200 letters that two famous Indian historians, Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) and his collaborator Govind Sakharam Sardesai (1865-1959), wrote to each other in the first half ...
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Surveying more than 1,200 letters that two famous Indian historians, Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) and his collaborator Govind Sakharam Sardesai (1865-1959), wrote to each other in the first half of the twentieth century, this book develops a two-tiered argument about the modern and academic discipline of history. At one level, it demonstrates how the basic concepts and practices of the discipline (such as those relating to historical evidence, historical truth, or even ideas of research and practices of archiving) were formulated in colonial India through vigorous, sometimes bitter and hurtful debates in public life, bypassing the institutional authority of the university. This “public” life of the discipline was necessitated by the colonial officials’ unwillingness to make official historical documents available to Indian researchers; it was also enabled by the fact that nationalist Indians interested themselves in historical research long before history became a researchable subject in Indian universities. Sarkar, with fraught support from Sardesai, played a central role in introducing Indian researchers to Rankean models of historical research while indigenizing the model in significant ways. Sarkar and Sardesai’s struggle to give early modern Indian history an academic form shows how unavoidable debates in public life shaped the discipline, even after historical study finally gained an academic status in India. Chakrabarty also develops a larger proposition about the discipline of history generally, arguing that, being non-technical in nature, the discipline remains open to the pressures of its “public life,” in addition to those emanating from its “cloistered” life in the university.Less
Surveying more than 1,200 letters that two famous Indian historians, Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) and his collaborator Govind Sakharam Sardesai (1865-1959), wrote to each other in the first half of the twentieth century, this book develops a two-tiered argument about the modern and academic discipline of history. At one level, it demonstrates how the basic concepts and practices of the discipline (such as those relating to historical evidence, historical truth, or even ideas of research and practices of archiving) were formulated in colonial India through vigorous, sometimes bitter and hurtful debates in public life, bypassing the institutional authority of the university. This “public” life of the discipline was necessitated by the colonial officials’ unwillingness to make official historical documents available to Indian researchers; it was also enabled by the fact that nationalist Indians interested themselves in historical research long before history became a researchable subject in Indian universities. Sarkar, with fraught support from Sardesai, played a central role in introducing Indian researchers to Rankean models of historical research while indigenizing the model in significant ways. Sarkar and Sardesai’s struggle to give early modern Indian history an academic form shows how unavoidable debates in public life shaped the discipline, even after historical study finally gained an academic status in India. Chakrabarty also develops a larger proposition about the discipline of history generally, arguing that, being non-technical in nature, the discipline remains open to the pressures of its “public life,” in addition to those emanating from its “cloistered” life in the university.
Frank H. T. Rhodes
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781501702440
- eISBN:
- 9781501706233
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Earth Sciences and Geography, Cultural and Historical Geography
Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these scraps by the use of biochemical ...
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Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these scraps by the use of biochemical markers or geochemical signatures that add useful information, but, even with such additional help, our reconstructions and our models of descent are often tentative. This book explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. The book argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies. The book's accessible and extensively illustrated treatment of the origins narrative describes the nature of the search for prehistoric life, the significance of geologic time, the origin of life, the emergence and spread of flora and fauna, the evolution of primates, and the emergence of modern humans.Less
Fossils are the fragments from which, piece by laborious piece, the great mosaic of the history of life has been constructed. Here and there, we can supplement these scraps by the use of biochemical markers or geochemical signatures that add useful information, but, even with such additional help, our reconstructions and our models of descent are often tentative. This book explores the origin and evolution of living things, the changing environments in which they have developed, and the challenges we now face on an increasingly crowded and polluted planet. The book argues that the future well-being of our burgeoning population depends in no small part on our understanding of life's past, its long and slow development, and its intricate interdependencies. The book's accessible and extensively illustrated treatment of the origins narrative describes the nature of the search for prehistoric life, the significance of geologic time, the origin of life, the emergence and spread of flora and fauna, the evolution of primates, and the emergence of modern humans.
Davide Tarizzo
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780816691593
- eISBN:
- 9781452958835
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816691593.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Considers the emergence and the meaning of “autonomy” in modern philosophy, by paying special attention to the Kantian turn and its aftermath.
Considers the emergence and the meaning of “autonomy” in modern philosophy, by paying special attention to the Kantian turn and its aftermath.
Davide Tarizzo
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780816691593
- eISBN:
- 9781452958835
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816691593.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Considers the repercussions of such a metaphysical framework in political history, with special emphasis on Nazism and contemporary trends in political theory and practices
Considers the repercussions of such a metaphysical framework in political history, with special emphasis on Nazism and contemporary trends in political theory and practices
David Sepkoski
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226748559
- eISBN:
- 9780226748580
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226748580.003.0008
- Subject:
- Biology, Paleontology: Biology
The study and modeling of the history of diversity over time motivated a methodological question: how reliable is the fossil record, and how can that reliability be tested? These problems became the ...
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The study and modeling of the history of diversity over time motivated a methodological question: how reliable is the fossil record, and how can that reliability be tested? These problems became the core of analytical paleobiology, and represented a continuation and a consolidation of the themes examined thus far in the history of paleobiology. Ultimately, this focus led paleobiologists to ground-breaking quantitative studies of the interplay of rates of origination and extinction of taxa through time, the role of background and mass extinctions in the history of life, the survivorship of individual taxa, and the modeling of historical patterns of diversity. These questions became the central components of an emerging paleobiological theory of macroevolution. This chapter explores the early stages of this development in paleobiology by examining the emergence of a new, clearly-articulated agenda: the often-expressed desire to construct a “nomothetic paleontology.” This phrase originated first in an important sequence of papers that sought to develop a stochastic, equilibrial simulation of evolutionary dynamics over time—what came to be known as the MBL model—and quickly became a rallying cry for the new approach to paleobiology. The term “nomothetic” essentially means “law-producing”. The chapter also outlined some of the essential features of this approach.Less
The study and modeling of the history of diversity over time motivated a methodological question: how reliable is the fossil record, and how can that reliability be tested? These problems became the core of analytical paleobiology, and represented a continuation and a consolidation of the themes examined thus far in the history of paleobiology. Ultimately, this focus led paleobiologists to ground-breaking quantitative studies of the interplay of rates of origination and extinction of taxa through time, the role of background and mass extinctions in the history of life, the survivorship of individual taxa, and the modeling of historical patterns of diversity. These questions became the central components of an emerging paleobiological theory of macroevolution. This chapter explores the early stages of this development in paleobiology by examining the emergence of a new, clearly-articulated agenda: the often-expressed desire to construct a “nomothetic paleontology.” This phrase originated first in an important sequence of papers that sought to develop a stochastic, equilibrial simulation of evolutionary dynamics over time—what came to be known as the MBL model—and quickly became a rallying cry for the new approach to paleobiology. The term “nomothetic” essentially means “law-producing”. The chapter also outlined some of the essential features of this approach.
Imani Perry
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781469638607
- eISBN:
- 9781469638621
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469638607.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the curriculum, ritual, teachers organizations and culture of African American schools in the segregated South with a particular focus on how the song ...
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This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the curriculum, ritual, teachers organizations and culture of African American schools in the segregated South with a particular focus on how the song Lift Every Voice and Sing was integrated into daily practices in the lives of children.Less
This chapter provides a detailed discussion of the curriculum, ritual, teachers organizations and culture of African American schools in the segregated South with a particular focus on how the song Lift Every Voice and Sing was integrated into daily practices in the lives of children.
J. David Archibald
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231164122
- eISBN:
- 9780231537667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164122.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter examines how Aristotle influenced both our perceptions and misperceptions of the history of life on Earth and the presumption that humans are the highest of animals. Aristotle's views ...
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This chapter examines how Aristotle influenced both our perceptions and misperceptions of the history of life on Earth and the presumption that humans are the highest of animals. Aristotle's views come to us in his ten books titled Researches About Animals, more commonly known from the Latin translation Historia Animalium (The History of Animals). His classification of life accorded with the then accepted views of the four basic elements of nature (air, fire, water, earth). Aristotle also used scales and ladders that form a continuum to explain the succession without gaps from inanimate objects through plants and then to animals, thus natura non facit saltus (nature makes no leaps). The French anatomist and paleontologist Georges Cuvier rejected the idea of the existence of a scala naturae possessing gaps, and that evolution occurred. This chapter considers how the ramifying view of life and its representation took root throughout the nineteenth century under the aegis of both evolution and creationism within the expanding fields of biological sciences.Less
This chapter examines how Aristotle influenced both our perceptions and misperceptions of the history of life on Earth and the presumption that humans are the highest of animals. Aristotle's views come to us in his ten books titled Researches About Animals, more commonly known from the Latin translation Historia Animalium (The History of Animals). His classification of life accorded with the then accepted views of the four basic elements of nature (air, fire, water, earth). Aristotle also used scales and ladders that form a continuum to explain the succession without gaps from inanimate objects through plants and then to animals, thus natura non facit saltus (nature makes no leaps). The French anatomist and paleontologist Georges Cuvier rejected the idea of the existence of a scala naturae possessing gaps, and that evolution occurred. This chapter considers how the ramifying view of life and its representation took root throughout the nineteenth century under the aegis of both evolution and creationism within the expanding fields of biological sciences.
Sander Gliboff
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262072939
- eISBN:
- 9780262273923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262072939.003.0030
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Heinrich Georg Bronn developed his approach to the history of life in Handbuch einer Geschichte der Natur (Handbook of a history of nature) in the 1840s, as well as in the mature reformulation of his ...
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Heinrich Georg Bronn developed his approach to the history of life in Handbuch einer Geschichte der Natur (Handbook of a history of nature) in the 1840s, as well as in the mature reformulation of his theories in 1858. This approach adhered to the ideals of Wissenschaft that Bronn had been developing throughout his career. Bronn was also searching for multiple and preferably quantifiable measures of progress and perfection that he could use in paleontology. This chapter examines Bronn’s intellectual commitments in order to explain his interpretation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and the issues he raised in response to it. It first considers Bronn’s views on the principle of adaptation and the external causes of change before turning to his assumptions about law and order in nature, along with his experience of individuality and variation and his notion of the evolution of species. It also discusses his ideas about the laws and forces of morphology.Less
Heinrich Georg Bronn developed his approach to the history of life in Handbuch einer Geschichte der Natur (Handbook of a history of nature) in the 1840s, as well as in the mature reformulation of his theories in 1858. This approach adhered to the ideals of Wissenschaft that Bronn had been developing throughout his career. Bronn was also searching for multiple and preferably quantifiable measures of progress and perfection that he could use in paleontology. This chapter examines Bronn’s intellectual commitments in order to explain his interpretation of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and the issues he raised in response to it. It first considers Bronn’s views on the principle of adaptation and the external causes of change before turning to his assumptions about law and order in nature, along with his experience of individuality and variation and his notion of the evolution of species. It also discusses his ideas about the laws and forces of morphology.
Alexandre Meinesz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226519319
- eISBN:
- 9780226519333
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226519333.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter discusses the following topics: the four sources of evidence for the reconstruction of the history of life; the first two billion years of the evolution of plants and animals; the dawn ...
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This chapter discusses the following topics: the four sources of evidence for the reconstruction of the history of life; the first two billion years of the evolution of plants and animals; the dawn of unicellular animals and plants; the emergence of organisms visible to the unaided eye; the demands of life in open water; and present-day descendants of microscopic subfloating cells.Less
This chapter discusses the following topics: the four sources of evidence for the reconstruction of the history of life; the first two billion years of the evolution of plants and animals; the dawn of unicellular animals and plants; the emergence of organisms visible to the unaided eye; the demands of life in open water; and present-day descendants of microscopic subfloating cells.
Alexandre Meinesz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226519319
- eISBN:
- 9780226519333
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226519333.003.0009
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter begins with a discussion of Voltaire's most famous tale, Candide, ou l'optimism, published in 1759. The story of Candide is a long series of mishaps, calamities, and catastrophes endured ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of Voltaire's most famous tale, Candide, ou l'optimism, published in 1759. The story of Candide is a long series of mishaps, calamities, and catastrophes endured during an extended voyage through Europe, America, and the Caribbean, during which Candide constantly questions his worldview. The multiple disastrous, unexpected, life-altering events that seemed to follow Candide on his journey were used by Voltaire to call attention to the fragility of existence. The chapter then considers the film Jurassic Park and theories for the extinction of dinosaurs. This is followed by a discussion of the importance of cataclysmic events and their crucial impact on the history of life.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of Voltaire's most famous tale, Candide, ou l'optimism, published in 1759. The story of Candide is a long series of mishaps, calamities, and catastrophes endured during an extended voyage through Europe, America, and the Caribbean, during which Candide constantly questions his worldview. The multiple disastrous, unexpected, life-altering events that seemed to follow Candide on his journey were used by Voltaire to call attention to the fragility of existence. The chapter then considers the film Jurassic Park and theories for the extinction of dinosaurs. This is followed by a discussion of the importance of cataclysmic events and their crucial impact on the history of life.
Patrick Forterre
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226265827
- eISBN:
- 9780226265964
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226265964.003.0007
- Subject:
- Biology, Microbiology
In the epilogue, the author once again emphasizes the importance that microbes from hell have played in the history of life. The author then wonder why it is important to retrace the most ancient ...
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In the epilogue, the author once again emphasizes the importance that microbes from hell have played in the history of life. The author then wonder why it is important to retrace the most ancient history of life on our planet and more generally why fundamental research is essential for our society. This is illustrated by the history of William Gilbert, who started working on electric phenomena in the sixteen century, at a time when nobody could have imagine the future impact of his work. In conclusion the author reminds us that science is a true pleasure when it aims is to uncover the secrets of nature.Less
In the epilogue, the author once again emphasizes the importance that microbes from hell have played in the history of life. The author then wonder why it is important to retrace the most ancient history of life on our planet and more generally why fundamental research is essential for our society. This is illustrated by the history of William Gilbert, who started working on electric phenomena in the sixteen century, at a time when nobody could have imagine the future impact of his work. In conclusion the author reminds us that science is a true pleasure when it aims is to uncover the secrets of nature.
Raymond L. Neubauer
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231150705
- eISBN:
- 9780231521680
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231150705.003.0002
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter presents a brief overview of the history of life in terms of homeostasis, the ability of information systems to build an inner world that buffers life against fluctuations in its ...
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This chapter presents a brief overview of the history of life in terms of homeostasis, the ability of information systems to build an inner world that buffers life against fluctuations in its external environment. Homeostasis can be thought of as a behavioral quality: having a large variety of responses to environmental changes. An ample repertoire of responses allows an organism to maintain its activities despite changes in its surroundings. Warm-blooded animals (homeotherms) like mammals and birds, for example, can remain active in winter when cold-blooded animals like insects and reptiles have to shut down. Humans stand at a peak of both information gathering and homeostasis. This chapter examines the drive toward homeostasis in both plants and animals, along with the human strategy of collecting information as a way to deal with fluctuations in the environment. It also discusses behavioral versatility and how it contributes to survival, the evolution of primates and their response to the increased unpredictability of the environment, developmental plasticity in plants, and the evolution of locomotion and circulation.Less
This chapter presents a brief overview of the history of life in terms of homeostasis, the ability of information systems to build an inner world that buffers life against fluctuations in its external environment. Homeostasis can be thought of as a behavioral quality: having a large variety of responses to environmental changes. An ample repertoire of responses allows an organism to maintain its activities despite changes in its surroundings. Warm-blooded animals (homeotherms) like mammals and birds, for example, can remain active in winter when cold-blooded animals like insects and reptiles have to shut down. Humans stand at a peak of both information gathering and homeostasis. This chapter examines the drive toward homeostasis in both plants and animals, along with the human strategy of collecting information as a way to deal with fluctuations in the environment. It also discusses behavioral versatility and how it contributes to survival, the evolution of primates and their response to the increased unpredictability of the environment, developmental plasticity in plants, and the evolution of locomotion and circulation.