Response Questions 1 (ZH)

1.  Aristotle was the first to really try to differentiate animals into classes in a seemingly logical format. He used categories which obviously made sense at the time. Categories like "bleeding" and "Bloodless" and the amount of legs an animal had. Pliny and Aristotle really began Taxonomy. But of course with the nature of science there is always a goal for it to trump itself so just as we like to prove Aristotle wrong today he too wanted to prove things. So comes the Cyclops and Dragon-- ways of proving things unknown. The techniques were also used for living animals in which they have never seen but they described on the accounts of others as facts.

2. Now that the world had been (some what) mapped out and people (with money) could (more or less) recreationally sail around the world and collect things, they wanted to know where these things fit in there cabinet of curiosities. There was a lot of confusion as each culture people came around had different names for similar things and Aristotle and Pliny had not the modes of transportation that became so popular in this new world, so they had not been eligible to create such classifications. Linneaus on the other hand had these resources and was awfully good at creating classifications and putting a worldly order to things. He was so good he was nick named "Little Oracle"

3. The most interesting definitions would have to be Gary Paul Nebhan's Packrats, because i myself am a bit of a hoarder and can relate deeply with the notion that natural history is based upon collecting... much like a zoo does; Kristan Rowellt & Josh Tewksbury's First Human Endeavor, because i work with children and seeing them collect information for the first time or try to categorize and create there own taxonomy is a breath taking living natural history; and Clifford Duke & Peter Dunwiddle's Magic, because this is what makes people want to make natural history a science-- ironically because of the least scientific aspect of it. The magical spectacle of it all!

4. There is a tie between "I couldn't unpeach the peaches" and "Like a blind man at the ballgame, i need a radio." Both extremely poetic & pertinent to my thoughts of seeing. I often want to unpeach the peach but i have no radio at the ball game so I want to know more but i have no guide. And it's all very exciting.