Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Biologist Carol Kaesuk Yoon explores the historical tension between evolutionary biology and taxonomy. Carl Linnaeus struggled in the eighteenth century to define species in light of their mutability while still relying on intuitive, visual judgments. As taxonomy modernized, it moved into labs, yielding results counterintuitive to humanity's innate predisposition to order the world. By conceding scientific authority to taxonomists, Yoon argues, we've contributed to our own alienation from nature.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 08/02/2010
ISBN: 9780393338713
Pages: 341
Weight: 0.62lbs
Size: 9.00h x 5.50w x 0.90d