عنوان

The Fowls of Heaven and the Fate of the Earth:

Number

LA129866

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

The Fowls of Heaven and the Fate of the Earth:

General Material Designation

[Article]

Other Title Information

Assessing the Early Modern Revolution in Natural History

First Statement of Responsibility

Gordon Miller

Place of Publication, Distribution, etc.

Leiden

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Brill

Text of Note

"In recent years scholars have begun to question in various ways the traditional notion of the Scientific Revolution, which has long been seen as a fountainhead of modern Western approaches to nature. One line of questioning involves the suggestion that there were significant, and perhaps revolutionary, developments during the early modern era not only in the realms of astronomy and physics but also in the field of natural history. This article takes up this suggestion and begins by examining the seventeenth-century transformation of natural history in relation to the work of two representative English naturalists-Edward Topsell and John Ray-by looking specifically at their contrasting ornithological descriptions of cranes. It then analyzes how the different theological orientations of these two devout naturalists shaped their natural histories and contributed to the shift from a symbolic to a literalistic understanding of natural entities. This change of mind is examined in light of the phenomenon of secularization and the loss of "the dimension of depth" and in relation to the promise and problems of a utilitarian orientation to the natural environment, with observations on cranes as they have migrated through history in the thought of some leading naturalists and across some changing natural habitats. In recent years scholars have begun to question in various ways the traditional notion of the Scientific Revolution, which has long been seen as a fountainhead of modern Western approaches to nature. One line of questioning involves the suggestion that there were significant, and perhaps revolutionary, developments during the early modern era not only in the realms of astronomy and physics but also in the field of natural history. This article takes up this suggestion and begins by examining the seventeenth-century transformation of natural history in relation to the work of two representative English naturalists-Edward Topsell and John Ray-by looking specifically at their contrasting ornithological descriptions of cranes. It then analyzes how the different theological orientations of these two devout naturalists shaped their natural histories and contributed to the shift from a symbolic to a literalistic understanding of natural entities. This change of mind is examined in light of the phenomenon of secularization and the loss of "the dimension of depth" and in relation to the promise and problems of a utilitarian orientation to the natural environment, with observations on cranes as they have migrated through history in the thought of some leading naturalists and across some changing natural habitats."

Date of Publication

2005

Physical description

57-81

Title

Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology

Volume Number

9/1

International Standard Serial Number

1568-5357

Subject Term

CRANES

Subject Term

EDWARD TOPSELL

Subject Term

JOHN RAY

Subject Term

NATURAL HISTORY

Subject Term

SCIENTIFI C REVOLUTION

Subject Term

SECULARIZATION

Gordon Miller

Call Number

10.1163/1568535053628445

Electronic name

p

[Article]

275578

a

Y