[September 26 + 28] Providence and rationality across the animal kingdom
Section outline
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Text 2: Johann Swammerdam, “A treatise on the history of bees,” The Book of Nature [sic: Bible of Nature] (1758 [1680; posthumous first edition 1737]), 159-195. [German text] [NB: It is a rather long text, and in this instance you do not need to master its contents. Budget 45 minutes and read somewhat impressionistically. Ask yourself what kind of text this is, what audience it might have, and how Swammerdam makes his argument. Longer descriptive passages may test your patience, but keep an eye out for moments when he indicates what kind of Creator God he has in mind.]
Context 2: Providence and rationality across the animal kingdom; can Nature nonetheless be imbued with spirit?
Assigned reading: Catherine Larrère, "In search of the Newton of the moral world: The intelligibility of society and the naturalist model of law from the end of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth century," in Daston and Stolleis, eds., Natural Law and Laws of Nature in Early Modern Europe: Jurisprudence, Theology, Moral and Natural Philosophy (2008), 249-264. -