A Comparison of Francis Bacon and Carolus Linnaeus' View of Nature and Humanity's Relationship to It - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages This frequency is enough to reflect and substantiate the view of nature as instruments. Instrumentation purposes vary from burial to horticulture, medicinal or treatment purposes, harnessing of raw materials, et cetera. The same view was described by Linnaeus; “when we follow the series of created things, and consider how providentially one is made for the sake of another, the matter comes to this, that all things are made for the sake of man” (3). While Bacon recognized nature as an instrument to human needs, Linnaeus furthered this by pointing out how every aspect of nature was designed to be made useful for humans. Nature as Local. Interestingly, Bacon implicated that nature’s instrumentation was largely determined by location. While burial was done in the Lower Region, observatories were situated in the Upper Region. Thus, nature presents a limit by which instrumentation is permissible or not advisable, and this fact was respected by the people of Salomon’s House. The same fact was implicated by Carolus Linnaeus in his The Economy of Nature. His recognition of the co-location of habitat and particular species of flora and fauna was expressed through his acknowledgement of the dissimilar patterns of seasons, as well as the variance in soil composition (Linnaeus 2). Moreover, Linnaeus explicitly expressed this: “How wise, how beautiful is the agreement between the plants of every country, and its inhabitants, and other circumstances!” (2). Nature as the Framework of Imitation. Bacon’s view suggested that the workings of nature served as the mold by which humans replicate certain processes for the desired output. This imitation was explicitly detailed: “We use them likewise for the imitation of natural mines...,” or “We have heats in imitation of the sun’s and heavenly bodies’ heats, that pass divers[e] inequalities...” (Bacon 3-5). Thus, it is safe to assume that early processes that were said to be ‘invented’ by early humans were probably forms of mimicry out of the observable natural processes. Nature as Something to be Improved. The recognition of nature’s imperfection was prevalent; yet, this imperfection was viewed by Bacon only in the context of the human’s desired output. This was pronounced in the field of horticulture wherein the practice of grafting, inoculating, and growing de-seeded plants was common (Bacon 4). Moreover, the pursuit of understanding the effects of flora and fauna on humans, whether good or bad, was inherent in designed structures or enclosures (Bacon 4). The same view was perceived by Linneaus; he went on to explain that by virtue of human reasoning, humans are able to propagate aspects of nature (i.e., vegetables), and asserted that if nature was “left to herself, could scarcely effect” (3). Thus, Linnaeus, just like Bacon, saw human intervention as the necessary means to enable nature to become fully or wholly purposeful. Nature as an Unending Cycle of Life and Death. Linnaeus depicted this cycle through the vegetable-to-mold and mold-to-vegetable analogy. His main point was that vegetation is comprised of the same composite -- the black mold; thus, he asserted, “So that the tallest tree is, properly speaking, nothing but mold wonderfully compounded with air and water...” (Linnaeus 3). Consequently, this view implicates how inevitable and normal death is. Moreover, death is viewed a necessity for a fresh beginning in the cycle of natural creation. Nature as Designed to be Biodiverse. The implications of nature’s biodiversity were successfully presented by Linnaeus. He proffered biodiversity as the solution in controlling the population of species, the ...Download file to see next pagesRead More