ANT 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: James Ussher, Carl Linnaeus, Catastrophism
30 Aug 2016
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Through 14th c. the genesis version of divine creation accepted as explanation for biological diversity. Earth was young (4004 bc according to archbishop ussher (1581-1656) Species arranged in hierarchy, with humans at top ( great chain of being ) Discovery of new world and circumnavigation of globe exposed europeans to diversity never before seen. In 1514, copernicus challenged aristotle"s notion that earth was fixed at center of universe; later elaborated by galileo. Other discoveries in physics and biology suggested that phenomena were governed by natural laws. Throught 18th c. most still attributed creation to divine forces, but now phenomena were investigated, not accepted as unknowable. By 16th c. , interest in biological diversity was great. Linnaean classification system formed the basis for taxonomy still used today (class, order, genus, species) With some controversy, linnaeus included humans in his scheme (homo sapiens) Species -> genus -> family -> order -> class -> phylum -> kingdom -> domain -> life.
