Thursday, April 23, 2009

Don't Touch my Lady

I very much enjoyed this chapter that recapped some of the history of what wonders and treasures meant to the royalty of Europe. The section I found the most interesting was the discussion that starts around page 94, when the topic turns to Francis Bacon who used an old Muslim text describing how to scientifically approach the world to think up fantastic invented wonders that could "harness the hidden powers of nature." I find it interesting how it was such a different culture from the middle ages Europe that first introduced the idea of man-made marvels. Indeed, such a thing as a flying machine would truly have been a marvel at the time, and in fact, I still think it's pretty awesome.It's very intriguing to see how what was originally an idea to use nature to our benefit was the original inspiration for experimental science. It's true that the subject is used to better human-kind, so it really does make sense that the greatest scientific feats of the world were originally inspired by the world around the inventors of the time. Art was then seen as what we now see as science, and science was really just beginning. Artisans and craft workers knew how to manipulate natural wonders to use their powers for the greater good. I guess the question I wondered as I read through the work was about today's interpretations of other cultures going through this process. It's true that in most developed nations of the world today, that although homeopathic medicine is very big, killing rare or endangered animals for their parts is seen as poaching and a waste of a rare species. Is it fair for European and American culture to have this attitude toward poaching when we were doing the same thing not that long ago? Despite the fact that extinct animals can't make anymore animal parts and extinct animals harm ecosystems, can we have a moral objection as well, or is that hypocritical? Or is it still wrong and Europe was just wrong before as well?

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