But these vital activities are not our focus. It is certainly true that they also found there the means to food, clothing, and shelter – the basics of life fundamental to any economic history of the Middle Ages. What premodern people found in Nature was first and foremost themselves, their bodies, what they were, and what it meant to be here. Human beings, as much a part of Nature as the plants and animals frequently appearing in these pages, are our subject, although we are not so much interested in that part of Nature between their ears, the processes of the human mind. Fortunately, Dante wrote a natural history of Inferno and Paradiso, and Pliny the Elder, perhaps the first natural historian, ably covered the Earth he knew. The supernatural is often relevant and theological works provide some important witnesses to Nature, but what has been called the theology of nature, or natural theology, or indeed the heaven above or the hell below us, are not our subjects.
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Nor does it engage the planet’s nonliving chemistry manipulated and studied by alchemists. Nature in this book does not include the cosmos outside this Earth and hence omits that favorite medieval science – astronomy. Although standard advice on writing holds that an author should stress what the book covers and not what it excludes, the fuzziness of Nature, even narrowly defined, requires a warning label for the readers. First, Nature with a capital “N” means the living ecology of this world, what we today call the biosphere.
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This brief preface must explain the title and scope of this book, before the introduction launches the reader into Nature as some ancient and medieval people found it.
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Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus: Series Graeca, Paris 1857–66 PL J. Adam Smith The natural is always without error. William James The purpose of Nature is the happiness of humanity. the first gift of natural existence is unhappy.
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How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure. GF540.E67 2012 304.2094 0902–dc23 2012012295 ISBN 978-5-2 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Philosophy of nature – Europe – History – To 1500. Nature – Effect of human beings on – Europe – History – To 1500. Human ecology – Europe – History – To 1500. Includes bibliographical references and index. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Epstein, Steven, 1952– The medieval discovery of nature / Steven A. First published 2012 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. EPSTEIN University of KansasĬambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, S˜ao Paulo, Delhi, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA Information on this title: C Steven A. T HE MEDIEVAL DISCOVERY OF NATURE STEVEN A. He is the author of numerous articles and six books, including Genoa and the Genoese 958–1528, Speaking of Slavery: Color, Ethnicity, and Human Bondage in Italy, and An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe 1000–1500. Epstein is the Ahmanson-Murphy Distinguished Professor of Medieval History at the University of Kansas. This book analyzes five themes found in medieval views of nature – grafting, breeding mules, original sin, property rights, and disaster – to understand what some medieval people found in nature and what their assumptions and beliefs kept them from seeing. These conflicting legacies shaped medieval European ideas about the natural order and what economic, moral, and biological lessons it might teach. Ancient societies bequeathed to the Middle Ages both the Bible and a pagan conception of natural history.
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From the beginning, people lived in nature and discovered things about it. THE MEDIEVAL DISCOVERY OF NATURE This book examines the relationship between humans and nature that evolved in medieval Europe over the course of a millennium.