Aristotle's ladder, Darwin's tree : the evolution of visual metaphors for biological order / J. David Archibald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Archibald, J. David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Biology--Philosophy.

Biology.

Human evolution--Philosophy.

Human evolution.

Imagery (Psychology).

Metaphor.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 p.)

Place of Publication:

West Sussex, England : Columbia University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Leading paleontologist J. David Archibald explores the rich history of visual metaphors for biological order from ancient times to the present and their influence on humans' perception of their place in nature, offering uncommon insight into how we went from standing on the top rung of the biological ladder to embodying just one tiny twig on the tree of life. He begins with the ancient but still misguided use of ladders to show biological order, moving then to the use of trees to represent seasonal life cycles and genealogies by the Romans. The early Christian Church then appropriated trees to represent biblical genealogies. The late eighteenth century saw the tree reclaimed to visualize relationships in the natural world, sometimes with a creationist view, but in other instances suggesting evolution. Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) exorcised the exclusively creationist view of the "tree of life," and his ideas sparked an explosion of trees, mostly by younger acolytes in Europe. Although Darwin's influence waned in the early twentieth century, by midcentury his ideas held sway once again in time for another and even greater explosion of tree building, generated by the development of new theories on how to assemble trees, the birth of powerful computing, and the emergence of molecular technology. Throughout Archibald's far-reaching study, and with the use of many figures, the evolution of "tree of life" iconography becomes entwined with our changing perception of the world and ourselves.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter One. Blaming Aristotle

Chapter Two. The Roots of the Tree of Life

Chapter Three. Competing Visual Metaphors

Chapter Four. Deciphering Darwin's Trees

Chapter Five. The Gilded Age of Evolutionary Trees

Chapter Six. The Waning and Waxing of Darwinian Trees

Chapter Seven. Three Revolutions in Tree Building

Chapter Eight. The Paragon of Animals

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231537667

0231537662

OCLC:

979751816