Fascinating thread. The word "nature" seems to present a false dichotomy between human influenced processes and all others, and therefore loses it's meaning. By way of making the point, is there *anything* that is not a part of nature?
Michael -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of Wayne Tyson Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 10:08 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Are humans part of nature? What evidence is there that demonstrates that humans are not part of Nature? (But I see the "hook" in this kind of question, commonly employed to validate some cockamamie theory in the mind of some true believers. Let them come with their theories. Let there be light.) Can man live by aphorism alone? WT "In the heart of the city I have heard the wild geese crying on the pathways that lie over a vanished forest. Nature has not changed the force that drives them. Man, too, is a different expression of that natural force. He has fought his way from the sea's depths to Palomar Mountain. He has mastered the plague. Now, in some final Armageddon, he confronts himself." --[anthropologist] Loren Eiseley, "The Invisible Pyramid" ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Silvert" <cien...@silvert.org> To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU> Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2009 9:11 AM Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Are humans part of nature? > An anthropologist writing on another mailing list wrtoe that "... human > beings, and indeed human cultures, have developed as a part of evolutionary > processes. This is something that a fair proportion of ecologists do not > acknowledge. At my Ph.D. institution, I have had ecologists tell me that > humans ARE NOT part of nature!" I find this statement remarkable, and would > like to know whether it is indeed true that "a fair proportion of > ecologists" feel that "humans ARE NOT part of nature". Comments on this > would be welcome. > > Bill Silvert -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.392 / Virus Database: 270.13.46/2288 - Release Date: 08/07/09 13:13:00
