Denis
Dutton wonderfully illustrates how beauty came to be perceived through the
evolution of homo sapiens. Although I have not previously considered his ideas,
it brings up many important points as well as progress towards bridging the gap
between science and society. Yes, I am a BSE major and sustainability studies
minor so I am exhaustively looking for ways in which we can facilitate a
paradigm shift in societies view of the natural world – less of an object to be
mastered and more of a living, interdependent, being.
Dutton describes through the first
mechanism of the operations of evolution that fear is innately within us. He
also describes that across cultures, throughout the world, there is a common
agreement of a beauty in the savannah landscape that points back to the Pleistocene
period. Yet, I don’t think these values are completely based on biological
determinism. Our western culture has become more fearful of nature’s
complexity. Just as Carl Elliot describes - our practice of categorization
demonstrates our left brain working ever-so-eagerly to use labels in order to distinguish
our differences and thus aiding in othering
the natural world. If only it were easier for humans to live alongside the
dynamic world, rather than stabilize it, we could better appreciate its elegant
chaos.
Nice thoughts! One that particularly stood out to me was where you mentioned "our western culture has become more fearful of nature's complexity" and what you wrote about "our practice of categorization". I hadn't thought about it too much but now that I think about it, I agree. And I think we as humans try to categorize the dynamic world as a way to understand it and, to some extent, try to control it. It's really interesting to think about how that came along.
ReplyDeleteI am also a BSE major, and sustainability and the environment is very important to me. The last line of your blog is interesting to me because of that. I agree that humans should learn to appreciate the world and the complexity of nature, but is it possible for us to live alongside nature and not interfere at all? I think in some ways we have to "stabilize" it so that we don't harm it. It is such a hard balance to appreciate nature and let it be while not harming it in the process. In some ways I feel we have to interfere so that we don't let things like extinctions happen.
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