History of Environmental Sciences before Darwin K

Transcription

1 History of Environmental Sciences before Darwin K Gallatin School of Individualized Study New York University Spring 2011 Tuesday and Thursday, 9:30-10:45 1 Washington Place, Room 527 Instructor: Prof. Peder Anker pja7@nyu.edu Office hours: Wednesdays 9: Office: 1 Washington pl., Room 425 Phone: Course Description This seminar will provide an overview of the history of the environmental sciences from ancient times to Charles Darwin s The Origin of Species. We will explore ways in which naturalists and lay people came to know the environment and in what ways nature could mobilize social and moral authority. With a focus on the history of the European environmental problems from the ancient Greeks, Middle Ages, to colonial and Modern experiences, we will survey different ways of knowing nature. Where did the idea of nature as designed come from? How did natural philosophers (i.e. magicians) unveil nature s secrets? What role did scientists play in the colonial experiences? How could Modern scholars imagine improving the face of the Earth? These broad questions will guide us in our readings of a series of primary sources, including great and not-so-great books by Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pseudo-Aristotle, Pliny, St. Francis, Evelyn, Grew, Bacon, Rousseau, Voltaire, Linnaeus, Malthus and Darwin, as well as largely forgotten texts by anonymous authors and colonial explorers. Papers and assignments There will be three 10 page papers due February 22, March 29, and May 5. The papers have to engage primary sources discussed in class. Late papers are not accepted. All students are expected to maintain the highest standard of academic integrity. Cheating and plagiarism are serious matters and will result in disciplinary action and course failure. Grading and attendance Mandatory attendance 10 % Course and website participation 30 % 1 st paper The Ancient Paper 30 % 2 nd paper The Medieval/Early Modern Paper 30 % 3 rd paper The Modern Paper Green course This is a zero-footprint green course. All papers must be submitted electronically.

2 Books to buy or borrow: Janet Browne, Darwin's Origin of Species, (New York: Atlantic Books, 2006). Peter Coates, Nature: Western Attitudes since Ancient Times, (Berkley: University of California Press, 1998), or later editions. William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, any edition. Barbara A. Hanawalt and Lisa J. Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature: Essays on the Natural World in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2008). J. Donald Hughes, Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, (Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996), or later editions. Book to borrow or buy used (available at Amazon): Ruth Kraemer (trs.), Histoire Naturelle Des Indes: The Drake Manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Library, (New York: Norton, 1996). Books to read online Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals, any edition. Aristotle (Pseudo), The Secret of Secrets, Gotha (trs.), 1869 edition. Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, any edition. Herman Daggett, The Rights of Animals, (Sagg-Harbour: Frothingham, 1792). Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, any edition. D Alembert, Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot, any edition. John Evelyn, Sylvia: A Discourse of Forest Trees, Nehemia Grew, The Anatomy of Plants, 1682 edition, Hippocrates, On Airs, Waters and Places, any edition. Carolus Linnaeus, The Economy of Nature, Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population, any edition. (The Norton Critical Edition from 2004 is good). Plato, Critias, any edition. Pliny the Elder, Natural History, any edition. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, What is the Origin of Inequality among Men, any edition.

3 Anonymous [Thomas Taylor], A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes (London: Edward Jeffery, 1792). St. Francis of Assisi, The Writings of St. Fancies of Assisi, Pascal Robinson (trs.), or any edition. Terence H. White (trs.), The Book of Beasts: Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century, (Mineola, NY: Dover Pub., 1984), or any edition. Key book not on the syllabus: Clarence Glacken, Traces on the Rhodian Shore: Nature and Culture in Western Thought from Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century, (Berkley: University of California Press, 1967).

4 Schedule: January 25 Tuesday: Introductory meeting No readings January 27 Thursday: What is Nature? Coates, Nature, 1-22 February 1 Tuesday: Ancient environmental problems: Introduction Hughes, Pan s Travail, Coates, Nature, February 3 Thursday: Ancient environmental problems: Hippocrates Hughes, Pan s Travail, Hippocrates, On Airs, Waters and Places, entire. February 4: Friday: MOVIE! 11am Home an environmental documentary produced by Yann Arthus Bertrand. Village East Cinema, nd avenue. February 8 Tuesday: Ancient environmental problems: Plato Hughes, Pan s Travail, Plato, Critias, entire. February 10 Thursday: Ancient environmental problems: Aristotle Hughes, Pan s Travail, Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals, Book 1. February 15 Tuesday: Ancient environmental problems: Pliny Hughes, Pan s Travail, Pliny, Natural History, selections

5 February 17 Thursday: Ancient environmental problems: Summary Hughes, Pan s Travail, February 22 Tuesday: Medieval Nature: Introduction 1 st paper due! The Ancient Paper Richard C. Hoffmann, Homo et Natura, Homo in Natura: Ecological Perspectives in European Middle Ages, in Hanawalt and Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature, chapter 1. Joel Kaye, The (Re)Balance of Nature, ca , in Hanawalt and Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature, chapter 4. Coates, Nature, February 24 Thursday: Medieval Nature: Magic Pseudo-Aristotle, The Secret of Secrets, entire. March 1 Tuesday: Medieval Nature: St. Francis of Assisi Lynn White Jr., The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis, Science 155 (March 1967), St. Francis of Assisi, Sermon to the Birds and Canticle of the Sun Roger D. Sorrell, St. Francis of Assisi and Nature: Traditions and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes toward the Environment, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), March 3 Thursday: Natural History The Book of Beasts, entire. Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Inventing with Animals in the Middle Ages, in Hanawalt and Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature, chapter 2. Susan Crane, Ritual Aspects of the Hunt a Force, in Hanawalt and Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature, chapter 3. March 8 Tuesday: Renaissance/Early Modern Nature Coates, Nature,

6 Pamela H Smith, Collecting Nature and the Art: Artisans and Knowledge in the Kunstkammer, in Hanawalt and Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature, chapter 5. March 10 Thursday: Early Modern Nature: Bacon Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, entire. March 15 March 17 Tuesday: Spring break! Thursday: Spring break! March 22 Tuesday: Early Modern Nature: Grew Nehemia Grew, The Anatomy of Plants, 1682, selections. March 24 Thursday: Early Modern Nature: Evelyn John Evelyn, Sylvia: A Discourse of Forest Trees, 1669, selections. THE BOBST LIBRARY VISIT The Fales Library and Special Collections 70 Washington Square South, 3rd Fl. We will look at and discuss: - John Evelyn, Sylva, or, A discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber, (London, Printed for John Martyn, 1679). We will also take a look at: - Pliny, Naturalis historia, (Rotterdam, ). - Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum, or, A naturall history: in ten centuries, (London: Lee, 1651). 10th edition. - Robert Hooke, Micrographia, (London, 1665). - John Ogilby, America: being the latest and most accurate description of the new world, (London, by the author, 1671). - Charles Darwin, On the origin of species by means of natural Selection, (London, John Murray, 1859). First edition. March 29 Tuesday: Voyages of Discovery: Green Imperialism? 2 nd paper due! The Medieval/Early Modern Paper Coates, Nature, Richard Grove, Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism , (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 16-72,

7 March 31 Thursday: Voyages of Discovery: West India Histoire Naturelle Des Indes, entire Julie Berger Hochstrasser, Human Nature: Observing Dutch Brazil, in Hanawalt and Kiser (eds.), Engaging with Nature, chapter 7. April 5 Tuesday: Voyages of Discovery: New England Cronon, Changes in the Land, entire. April 7 Thursday: Modernity: Introduction Coates, Nature, Garret Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons Science 162 (Dec. 13, 1968), April 12 Tuesday: Modernity: Diderot D Alembert, Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. April 14 Thursday: Modernity: Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau, What is the Origin of Inequality among Men, entire. Coates, Nature, April 19 Tuesday: Modernity: Linnaeus Lisbet Koerner, God s Endless Larder in Linnaeus: Nature and Nation, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999), May 3 Tuesday: Evolutionary Biology: Charles Darwin Browne, Darwin's Origin of Species, Darwin, The Origin of Species, selections. May 5 Thursday: Last day of Class 3 rd paper due! The Modern Paper Coates, Nature,