Natural History
Natural history and natural philosophy together form the principle branches of natural science. They begin in Iron age cultures as an attempt to better understand nature by way of a reflection that no longer interprets natural phenomena in terms of the will of the gods. Natural philosophers, or naturalists, seek to unshackle themselves from received opinion to the end of describing natural phenomena on the bases of observation. The authority of observation in respect to nature is deemed, in the case of conflict, to trump that of religion and theology.
Natural history and natural philosophy are precursors of modern science. In particular, natural history is the precursor of biology and geology, and natural philosophy is a precursor of chemistry and physics. In the study of natural history rigorous distinctions are not drawn between life and its environment. The study of animals, [[plants], and minerals is not a matter of specialization such the price of dedicating oneself to a field of study is incompetence in the others. Research within the different branches of natural history remains united by common goals and a common language. Natural history remains eminently accessible, in terms of its goals and language, to the amateur enthusiast. It is only in Renaissance age cultures that corpus of natural science begins to succumb to a dismembering that marks the first emergence of modern science and of its practitioner w
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Natural history is the description, as opposed to the analysis, of nature, whereas natural philosophy is the analysis, as opposed to the description, of nature.
The description offered by natural history is observation rather than experiment based. Natural historians, or naturalists, may well engage in dissection and even vivisection to get a better look at the everyday operations of nature, but they have little inclination to impose highly artificial environments upon the natural phenomena which they study. So far as the natural historian is concerned, the rigorous control of variables achievable through experimentation casts a light that distorts more than it clarifies. In the search for knowledge, those willing to torture nature, like those willing to torture prisoners, deceive themselves by posing leading questions and accepting convenient answers. Natural philosophers seek in their descriptions of nature to do justice to it as it presents itself to the attentive eye. And they seek classify the variety of natural phenomena on the basis of their careful description.
Natural history is the precursor of biology and geology, whereas natural philosophy is a precursor of chemistry and physics. The reflection entailed in natural history and natural philosophy begins in Iron age cultures.
Natural History, encyclopaedic scientific work of dubious accuracy by Pliny the Elder, completed in 77 ce as Naturae historiae and conventionally known as Naturalis historia.
Although Pliny did not distinguish between fact, opinion, and speculation in his 37-volume treatise, he can be credited with the creation of the first scientific encyclopaedia. For centuries the Natural History served as the Western world’s primary source of scientific information and theory.
Book I summarizes the entire contents of the work, listing the authors and sometimes the titles of the books (many of which are now lost) from which Pliny derived his material. Book II is devoted to astronomy; Books III through VI, geography; VII through XI, zoology; XII through XIX, botany—and it is here that Pliny made his most substantial scientific contribution; XX through XXXII, medicine, including many moralistic comments on the deleterious effects of high living; and XXXIII through XXXVII, geology and mineralogy.
