Download Attitudes Towards Nature

Attitudes Towards Nature
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It is hard to understand the medieval attitude toward nature
Weird monsters like hydra and the unicorn were taken for granted
Real animals like whales and camels were thought to be imaginary
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Medieval people were fascinated by the bestiary
Bestiaries were like zoological scrapbooks
Sources drawn from Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Oriental cultures…
Original tales were greatly embellished
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The roc, for example, was taken from the Arabian Nights - seen here carrying off a light snack
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Information came second or third hand - explorers, pilgrims, hunters, soldiers, fishermen…
Who could say what strange creatures lived in unexplored lands?
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Some were straight out of nightmares, like the manticore, with a scorpion tail of poison quills,
which it could hurl like arrows…
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Consider the griffin, a noble creature popular on heraldic devices
Combined the qualities of the lion (king of the beasts) with the eagle (king of the birds)
Fed live humans to its young, could make drinking cups from its claws
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The fearsome basilisk lived in the Libyan desert
Born of a rooster’s egg hatched on a dung heap by a giant toad
Breath could wilt plants, shatter stones, only the weasel was immune
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Other creatures in the bestiaries were real, but little known in medieval Europe
Rhinos, sloths, etc. were thought to be mythical beasts, all endowed with strange powers
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Lack of skepticism
Willingness to believe even the wildest traveler’s tales
Retarded the progress of natural science
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Bestiary was far more than a simple animal encyclopedia
Bestiaries served a double purpose - there was a moral lesson for each animal
To our modern mind, nature is what it appears to be
To the medieval mind, nature had no real existence in and of itself
Nature was like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, left by the creator, with clues to the nature of existence
and morality
Symbolism of plants and animals was more important than their reality
Medieval physicians believed in the Doctrine of Signatures
The appearance of plants and other natural objects were a clue from the creator as to their
medicinal use
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Liverworts resembled the human liver - were used to treat liver disease
What do you suppose they used walnuts for?
Diseases of the brain!
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As the Roman Empire declined, teaching fell mainly to the priesthood
Their information came entirely from ancient writings
Natural history was forced to serve the ends of Christian dogma
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Ever taken a close look at the state flag of Louisiana?
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Pelicans feed their young with their own blood, as Christ nourished mankind with his own
blood
The symbolism of the pelican was far more important than the reality of individual pelicans
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Our modern ecological crisis may stem from the medieval attitude toward nature
The natural world is not important in and of itself
It is merely a reflection of a higher reality
It is ours to dominate and use as we like
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Pagans were animistic - every tree or brook or mountain had its own spirit
If you harmed nature, you risked the wrath of the spirits
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Nature had hidden meaning to Christians, but nature was created only for human use
Animals had no souls
Christians literally uprooted the sacred groves, could exploit nature with a clear conscience,
indifference to suffering
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In contrast stands a great man, who rebelled against accepted truths
He stood between the medieval world of myth and magic and the modern world of observation
and understanding
This unlikely rebel was Francis of Assisi
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Francis was a total party animal - he has been called the world’s first hippie
Early life was devoted to music, poetry, and drinking with his friends
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The life of Francis is portrayed in a famous series of frescoes by the artist Giotto, in the Church
of Assisi
Church was recently damaged by an earthquake, but the paintings survived, and the damage
was mostly repaired
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Francis was born in Assisi in 1181, son of a rich dry-goods merchant
Spoiled by mom, despised by dad
Little formal schooling, destined to take over dad’s business
Better at spending money than making it
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Became a soldier for Assisi, fought against Perugia, later joined the army of Pope Innocent III
Had a vision in 1207, Christ appeared from an altar and called him to do God’s work
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Gave his possessions to the poor, gave his money to the church
Father demanded the money for himself, Francis appealed to the bishop, renounced his family
and worldly goods, offered his life to the church
Good deeds attracted a dozen disciples, formed the nucleus of a new monastic order
Francis was so generous that his fellow monks had a hard time keeping him clothed
In 1210, Francis asked the Pope for permission to start a formal order of friars, dedicated to
good deeds and a lifestyle of poverty
Francis died in 1226, at the age of 45, worn down by his sacrifice and hardships
Two years later the Roman Catholic Church declared him a saint
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Francis is an important figure in biology because of his great love of birds and animals
He was more like a Buddhist than a Catholic
Felt that man needed to practice humility not only as an individual but as a species
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Francis felt that animals had souls, and that nature should be treated with love and respect
Church moved quickly after his death to stamp out these wild ideas
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Lest we single out Christianity as the ecological villain, we should look at the ecological
devastation caused by earlier humans
Pleistocene extinction during the last Ice Age, 75% of the large mammals disappeared
(mammoths, sabre-toothed tiger, giant cave bear…)
Another mysterious disappearance of the inhabitants of Easter Island
They destroyed their ecosystem by cutting down their forests
Couldn’t even build boats to sail away…
Consider the ancient Mayans, masters of Mesoamerica
Mayans may have destroyed themselves by turning their rain forests into agricultural fields to
feed rapidly expanding populations
Many native populations, on the other hand, have shown a deep connection to the natural world,
and an abiding respect for other species
Cherokee medicine men never picked more than one or two plants from a clump, always said a
prayer to the Earth and left a bead in the hole as compensation for the plant