The medieval discovery of nature / Steven A. Epstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Epstein, Steven, 1952- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human ecology--Europe--History--To 1500.

Human ecology.

Nature--Effect of human beings on--Europe--History--To 1500.

Nature.

Philosophy of nature--Europe--History--To 1500.

Philosophy of nature.

Nature--Religious aspects.

Civilization, Medieval.

Europe--History--476-1492.

Europe.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 208 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book examines the relationship between humans and nature that evolved in medieval Europe over the course of a millennium. From the beginning, people lived in nature and discovered things about it. Ancient societies bequeathed to the Middle Ages both the Bible and a pagan conception of natural history. These conflicting legacies shaped medieval European ideas about the natural order and what economic, moral and biological lessons it might teach. 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.

Contents:

The discovery of nature

The invention of mules

Like produces like

The nature of property

The nature of disaster

Conclusion.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-139-88933-8

1-139-56480-3

1-283-61068-X

1-139-55126-4

9786613923134

1-139-20776-8

1-139-55622-3

1-139-55001-2

1-139-55497-2

1-139-55252-X

OCLC:

810931604