09 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
The Naturalist's Concern for Death
But just because naturalists do not believe in a life after death does not mean that they don't care what happens after they die. I am deeply concerned, for instance, about whether my family members will be happy and successful after I am gone, whether my friends will continue the traditions we have established, and whether the world will be a better place because of my actions. I hope that what I do in this life will make a long-term difference in the world, though I will never know whether ... 1 
notes
notesThey are concerned about the welfare of their loved ones, and the causal effects of their life rather than rewards in an afterlife.
29 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
Why Every Fact is Interesting
It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with other events, usually only amuses himself or makes sport of us, as, for instance, the naturalist or historian. But a single action or event is interesting, not because it is explainable, but because it is true. 1 notes
notesBecause it is true.
23 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Embryonic Recapitulation
By considering the embryological structure of man - the homologies which he presents with the lower animals - the rudiments which he retains - and the reversions to which he is liable, we can partly recall in imagination the former condition of our early progenitors; and we can approximately place them in their proper position in the zoological series. We thus learnt that man is descended from a hairy quadruped, furnished with a tail and pointed ears, probably arboreal in its habit, and an in... 1 notes
notesDarwin seems to hint at it in this passage.
31 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Chemistry VS Biology
I came to biochemistry through chemistry; I came to chemistry, partly by the labyrinthine routes that I have related, and partly through the youthful romantic notion that the natural sciences had something to do with nature. What I liked about chemistry was its clarity surrounded by darkness; what attracted me, slowly and hesitatingly, to biology was its darkness surrounded by the brightness of the givenness of nature, the holiness of life. And so I have always oscillated between the brightne... 1 notes
notesChargaff relates how he was drawn to Chemistry for its clarity surrounded by the unknown and later biology for its lack of clarity but surrounded by the known.
13 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Hypothesis is a Tool for Finding New Facts
Hypothesis is the most important mental technique of the investigator, and its main function is to suggest new experiments or new observations. Indeed, most experiments and many observations are carried out with the deliberate object of testing an hypothesis. Another function is to help one see the significance of an object or event that otherwise would mean nothing. For instance, a mind prepared by the hypothesis of evolution would make many more significant observations on a field excursion... 1 notes
notesIt is used to think up new experiments, things to try. Armed with the hypothesis of Evolution, the naturalist has insights into what to look for in fossils and nature.
10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Naturalism Improves Perception
Nature study also heightens our perceptive
abilities: we see, hear and smell more, and more
keenly, because of them. In the cities, our senses tend
to atrophy. The relentless commercial badgering of
signs, and the general dullness and ugliness of city
landscapes, push the urban walker into the safe
cocoon of his mind and further out of his senses.
Simply spending time out in pastoral or wild
landscapes counteracts this tendency. Spend a day in
the woods and you will begin to hear a bit more a...
1 Being attentive to nature heightens our senses because of the enjoyment we get from listening, seeing, smelling, and feeling it.
10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
A Response to Leopold's Description
The passage shows how different aspects of
virtue connect. Patience is part intellectual virtue, part
moral virtue and part physical virtue, as it is portrayed
here. The humility which allows Leopold to lie down
in the muck unselfconsciously is a moral virtue, but
humble recognition of our own ignorance is also a key
intellectual virtue, as Socrates so often reminds us
(see also William Beebe’s description of the ideal
naturalist quoted earlier). Humility also makes
possible Leopold’s aes...
1 Cafaro sees a great deal of virtue in a naturalist's description of getting muddy to witness nature and appreciate it.
10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Efforts and Rewards of Naturalism
One day I buried myself, prone, in the muck
of a muskrat house. While my clothes
absorbed local color, my eyes absorbed the
lore of the marsh. A hen redhead cruised by
with her convoy of ducklings, pink-billed
fluffs of greenish-golden down. A Virginia
rail nearly brushed my nose. The shadow of
a pelican sailed over a pool in which a
yellow-leg alighted with warbling whistle; it
occurred to me that whereas I write a poem
by dint of mighty cerebration, the yellow-leg
walks a better one just by...This passage describes the lengths the naturalist will go to in order to witness nature's miracles.
21 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Proper Burial for a Naturalist
I will leave a sum in my last will for my body to be carried to Brazil and to these forests. It will be laid out in a manner secure against the possums and the vultures just as we make our chickens secure; and this great Coprophanaeus beetle will bury me. They will enter, will bury, will live on my flesh; and in the shape of their children and mine, I will escape death. No worm for me nor sordid fly, I will buzz in the dusk like a huge bumble bee. I will be many, buzz even as a swarm of motor...To have one's body placed outdoors or in a shallow grave so that it make give birth to thousands of insects that feed on it.
