DHUM 27A39 - From the Anthropology of the Enlightenment to North American Environmental Sciences
This course explores the philosophical and scientific perspectives on the relationship between humans and the natural world. In the first part, we will cover works of prominent Enlightenment philosophers and naturalists, such as David Hume, Condillac, Le Roy, Rousseau, and Buffon. Through an examination of these works, students will investigate topics such as the distinction between humans and animals, animal rationality and the naturalistic study of human society and government in the eighteenth-century. The course then delves into the writings of George Perkins Marsh, Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold, addressing themes like environmental impact, and interconnectedness among living beings. As the course progresses, students will engage with Asa Gray's interpretations of Darwin's theory of evolution and conclude with an analysis of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, which marked the dawn of the modern environmental movement. By exploring these diverse ideas and perspectives, students will gain a nuanced understanding of humanity's place in nature and its implications for contemporary environmental sciences.
Hume, D. (1739). Introduction, in: id., Treatise of Human Nature, Book. 1, ed. David Fate Norton e Mary J. Norton. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2011.
Hume, D. (1739). Of the Reason of Animals, in: id., Treatise of Human Nature, Book. 1, ed. David Fate Norton e Mary J. Norton. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2011.
Hume, D. (1739). On the origin of justice and property, in: id., Treatise of Human Nature, Book 3, ed. David Fate Norton e Mary J. Norton. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2011.
Condillac, E. B. de (1755). System of Knowledge in Animals, in: id., Treatise on animals [I will provide a translation of this text to students].
Condillac, E. B. de (1755). The Language of Animals, in: id., Treatise on animals [I will provide a translation of this text to students].
Rousseau, J. J. (1755). First Part, in: id., Discourse On The Origins Of Inequality Among Men.
Buffon, G. L. L. (1797). Of Domestic Animals (1753). Natural History, vol. 5. Trans. J. S. Barr, 10 vols. London.
Marsh, G. P. (1864). Man and Nature: Or, Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action. Chapter 1.