Thomas, Keith 1933-
Man and the natural world changing attitudes in England, 1500-1800 Keith Thomas. - 425 pages illustrations 21 cm.
Originally published: London : Allen Lane, 1983.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Human Ascendancy -- Natural History and Vulgar Errors -- Men and Animals -- Compassion for the Brute Creation -- Trees and Flowers -- The Human Dilemma -- Sources of Illustrations -- Index --
Preserving the environment, saving the rain forests, and preventing the extinction of species may seem like fairly recent concerns, but in Man and the Natural World, Sir Keith Thomas explores how these ideas took root long ago. In this entertaining and illuminating history, Thomas aims not just to explain present interest in preserving the environment and protecting the rights of animals, but to reconstruct an earlier mental world as well. Throughout the ages humankind has attempted to rationalize its place in nature. At no time was the idea of exploiting the earth for our own advantage so sharply challenged as in England between the sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries. For it was during these years that there occurred a whole cluster of changes in the way in which men and women, at all social levels, perceived the natural world around them. Thomas seeks to expose the assumptions which underlay the views and feelings of the inhabitants of early modern England toward the animals, birds, vegetation, and physical landscape among which they spent their lives. The issues raised here are even more alive today than they were just ten years ago. This fascinating work deftly shows that it is impossible to disentangle what the people of the past thought about plants and animals from what they thought about themselves.
0195111222
96026656
Human ecology--History.--England
Geographical perception--History.--England
Landscape assessment--History.--England
Ecologia humana--Inglaterra--Historia
Percepción geográfica--Inglaterra--Historia
Evaluación del paisaje--Inglaterra--Historia
GF551 / .T48 1996
304.2 / T361m "
Man and the natural world changing attitudes in England, 1500-1800 Keith Thomas. - 425 pages illustrations 21 cm.
Originally published: London : Allen Lane, 1983.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Human Ascendancy -- Natural History and Vulgar Errors -- Men and Animals -- Compassion for the Brute Creation -- Trees and Flowers -- The Human Dilemma -- Sources of Illustrations -- Index --
Preserving the environment, saving the rain forests, and preventing the extinction of species may seem like fairly recent concerns, but in Man and the Natural World, Sir Keith Thomas explores how these ideas took root long ago. In this entertaining and illuminating history, Thomas aims not just to explain present interest in preserving the environment and protecting the rights of animals, but to reconstruct an earlier mental world as well. Throughout the ages humankind has attempted to rationalize its place in nature. At no time was the idea of exploiting the earth for our own advantage so sharply challenged as in England between the sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries. For it was during these years that there occurred a whole cluster of changes in the way in which men and women, at all social levels, perceived the natural world around them. Thomas seeks to expose the assumptions which underlay the views and feelings of the inhabitants of early modern England toward the animals, birds, vegetation, and physical landscape among which they spent their lives. The issues raised here are even more alive today than they were just ten years ago. This fascinating work deftly shows that it is impossible to disentangle what the people of the past thought about plants and animals from what they thought about themselves.
0195111222
96026656
Human ecology--History.--England
Geographical perception--History.--England
Landscape assessment--History.--England
Ecologia humana--Inglaterra--Historia
Percepción geográfica--Inglaterra--Historia
Evaluación del paisaje--Inglaterra--Historia
GF551 / .T48 1996
304.2 / T361m "