scholarly journals ¿Viaje desde el encantamiento hasta el desencantamiento? Un estudio sobre las descripciones de la naturaleza de Darwin desde el Journal hasta el Origin

Daímon ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 71-87
Author(s):  
Bárbara Jiménez Pazos
Keyword(s):  
Software Package ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
The World

Teniendo en cuenta la cuestión en disputa sobre el encantamiento o el desencantamiento del mundo causado por la ciencia moderna, este artículo examina comparativamente la semántica del léxico en Journal of Researches y The Origin of Species de Charles Darwin utilizando estrategias de minería de textos. El objetivo es mostrar que existe un camino semántico directo, comenzando en Journal y culminando en Origin, que confirma una tendencia hacia un tipo de lenguaje desencantado empleado por Darwin en sus descripciones de la naturaleza. Esto queda demostrado por el análisis léxico y semántico de ambos textos. Taking into accountthe disputed question about enchantment or disenchantment of the world caused by modern science, this paper comparatively examines the semantics of the lexicon of Charles Darwin’s Journal of Researches and The Origin of Species using the software package Wordsmith Tools. Its aim is to show that there is a direct semantic path, starting with the Journaland culminating in the Origin, which confirms a tendency towards a gradually disenchanting, in a non-pejorative sense, type of language used by Darwin in his descriptions of nature. This is demonstrated by the lexical and semantic analysis of the texts.

Charles Darwin, the Gourmet Traveler

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
diana noyce
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Western World ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
150Th Anniversary ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

In 2009 the world celebrated the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's seminal work, the Origin of Species. While much was made of his evolutionary thinking, there was more to Darwin than merely challenging the way the Western World thought about the natural world. Gregarious by nature, Darwin also enjoyed the pleasures of the table. From his Glutton Club days at Cambridge University and throughout the voyage of the Beagle, Darwin not only collected specimens to develop his understanding of the natural world but he also ate them. He was never more satisfied than digesting species unknown to the human palate, at least the English palate. Darwin relished the culinary delights that different lands offered and approached the discovery of a new dish, and of the way it was cooked, with the same sense of curiosity and adventure he brought to collecting specimens.

Multiple Parasitism : Its Relation to the Biological Control of Insect Pests

1929 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry S. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Insect Pests ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
The World

“ The condor lays a couple of eggs and the ostrich a score, and yet in the same country the condor may be the more numerous of the two ; the Fulmar petrel lays but one egg, yet it is believed to be the most numerous bird in the world. One fly deposits hundreds of eggs, and another, like the hippobosca, a single one ; but this difference does not determine how many individuals of the two species can be supported in a district.”—Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species.

scholarly journals Darwin’s perception of nature and the question of disenchantment: a semantic analysis across the six editions of On the Origin of Species

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bárbara Jiménez-Pazos
Keyword(s):  
Aesthetic Experience ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Apparent Contradiction ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Natural Beauty ◽  
The World ◽  
Colour Blindness ◽  
The Aesthetic

AbstractThis body of work is motivated by an apparent contradiction between, on the one hand, Darwin’s testimony in his autobiographical text about a supposed perceptual colour blindness before the aesthetic magnificence of natural landscapes, and, on the other hand, the last paragraph of On the Origin of Species, where he claims to perceive the forms of nature as beautiful and wonderful. My aim is to delve into the essence of the Darwinian perception of beauty in the context of the Weberian concept of “disenchantment of the world”, assumed as a possible conceptual axis that enables the unravelling of the core of this contrast of perceptions. In acknowledging the theory of evolution as one of the most prominent scientific theories likely to have contributed to disenchantment, a number of questions arise: Is disenchantment compatible with aesthetic experience and sensibility before natural beauty? Was it Darwin’s disenchanted conception of the world that led him to believe he was colour blind? To answer these questions, a computer-assisted semantic analysis of lexical frequency and variability, most especially focused on aesthetic-emotional and religious or spiritual adverbs and adjectives, has been undertaken across the six editions of The Origin. The semantic analysis demonstrates that, although disenchanted, Darwin’s descriptions of, mainly, the adaptational excellence of living beings, reflect an aesthetically enriched perception of nature. It is concluded that Darwin’s perceptual colour blindness, then, might be based on a confusion rooted in the equation of equality between aesthetic sensibility in nature and the perception of its beauty as part of the vestigia Dei.

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