19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Outline of the Natural Sciences Pt. I
The heavens are enriched for the man of science with new stars, and he applies his knowledge to determine and foretel with accuracy their positions and movements. Natural philosophy, gradually delivered from the vague explanations of Descartes, in the same manner as it before was disembarrassed from the absurdities of the schools, is now nothing more than the art of interrogating nature by experiment, for the parpose of afterwards deducing more general facts by computation.
The weight of the...From Condorcet's Ninth Epoch. A survey of the world of science and a call for the need for the different sciences to find points where they touch in order to strengthen.
05 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Learning Natural History
To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall. Teach him something of natural history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of those which are worth turning around. Surely our innocent pleasures are not so abundant in this life, that we can afford to despise this or any other source of them. Without it, walking along a beach is like walking through an art gallery with half the artwork turned to the wall.
10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Naturalist Virtue of Leaving Nature Untouched
Of course, we can combine natural history
study with gardening, hunting, owning pets, and other
pursuits that keep us close to the earth. The more such
activities, the better, in terms of a full, rich, characterbuilding
relationship to nature. But natural history
study provides training in another key environmental
virtue that the others do not: leaving things alone. The
sportsman’s code prohibits wasting meat from the
animals killed, the organic gardener’s ethics proscribe
unsustainable ...Take only photographs, leave only footprints.
10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Study nature to find your voice
Study nature to find your voice. One reason
the natural history genre thrives today is the
tremendous variety of voices it makes possible: the
wild exactness of Annie Dillard, the calm
thankfulness of Terry Tempest Williams, the scientific
precision of Bernd Heinrich. But again, this is not just
the province of professional writers or exceptional
talents. No matter how dry or literal an amateur
naturalist’s field notebook might be, sooner or later it
begins to fill up with descriptions of h...Natural History as a genre thrives because the variety of voices contributing to it.