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1. Concept and Christian background In the question of the relationship between human beings and nature, there are various positions, which depend on how the significance of human beings (Humankind) is assessed. The approach of anthropocentrism focuses on the perspective and interests of human beings, not uncommonly in the utilitarian form of a benefit relationship (Utilitarianism): nature was created for humankind and is therefore meaningful solely in proportion to its usefulness. Alternative models…

1. Key concepts and their history Prehistoric and ancient terminological categories pervaded early modern concepts of earth. Like other elements (fire, air, water), earth was part of creation myths, coming about through the overcoming of chaos by separation and the ordering (Order [system]) of the elements (often also the separation of heaven and earth, light and darkness). Gender allocations also played an important part in the binary tetradic structure of the premodern doctrines of elements, substan…

1. DefinitionThe fact that for most known species, reproduction of animal and vegetable life is anisogamous (by the fusion of different gametes) is described by the term dimorphism (or bimorphism). The concept relates to the binary structure of the living world, a structure that is also reflected in many other spheres, such as language. Wherever nature metaphors and analogies are in use, dimorphism is a widespread conceptual and presentational model, even in fields far beyond biology.At all periods, dimorphism as a conceptual figure has also been enlisted to account …

1. Definition; history to 1700The term plant breeding denotes deliberate propagation and breeding of plants in order to improve desired traits. Increased yield, frequently by adapting to changing environmental conditions (Soil; Climate), greater nutritional value, and improved taste were primary goals for changing traits of agricultural crop plants in the early modern period, along with easier exploitability – thanks to better storage facilities, for instance, or aptitude for preservation – and greater (economic) returns. Ever since human beings became sedentary i…

1. Concept Miracles in all religions offer a way of explaining extraordinary events that run counter to everyday experience as the work of a deity, a holy person, a devil, demons, or spirits (Ghost; Devil, belief in; Demonology). The definition of the phenomenon blurs into that of magic, and boundaries are sometimes difficult to draw precisely. Miracles are performed either by the deity in person or through his or her “instruments,” meaning saints or people living saintly lives (e.g. distinguishing themselves by their asceticism), or by relics or holy places.In Greco-Roman an…

1. Concept and overviewFrom Antiquity until well into the early modern period, the idea of repetitive circular motion was a commonplace concept of the course of natural and social processes, both in Europe and in other cultures. It was regarded as the most perfect form of motion, and the circle and sphere as the most perfect geometrical bodies. At the same time, the concept was connected with the idea of eternal return, a revolution in its original sense, still colored by the ideas of Nikolaus Copernicus [3]; [15. 69–71]. The establishment of the heliocentric model in no way pre…

1. IntroductionZodiac (Greek “zōdiakos [ kyklos]”, literally “[circle] of zōdia,” i.e. small animal figures, cf.  zōdion; via Latin zodiacus) was already the term for the ring of constellations or “signs” along the ecliptic: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. In the geocentric model, these constellations divided the heavens’ orbit into twelve equal sections (Heaven), which in turn were grouped into four sections in reference to the quart…

1. Concept The word ‘fetish’ derives from the Portugues feitiço (“spell”, “amulet”), which in turn derives from the Latin facticius (“artificial”) and is related to  feitiçeiro (“sorcerer”) and  feitiçaria (“sorcery”). The term became established in Portugal from the Late Middle Ages, and subsequently enjoyed an astonishing career in the early modern period, through to Karl Marx’ “commodity fetishism” in the 19th century [5. 13 f.].Jörn Sieglerschmidt 2. Africa Feitiços were already mentioned in Portugal in the first edict against witches (1385), and the word …

1. Etymology and definitionThe Greek words for order ( kósmos, táxis, and thésis: cosmos, order, and arrangement) correspond to the Latin term  ordo, which was borrowed by most European languages. In early modern natural philosophy,  ordo was complemented by the term  scala (“stepladder”), a hierarchical order (Scala naturae). The Greek word  cháos (“gaping void”) denoting the still disordered primal state of the world likewise prevailed in the languages of Europe as the opposite of order. These terms were used in the early modern period (an…

1. Concept Edward Burnett Tylor (1832-1917) [11], who coined Animism as a technical term, is regarded by dint of his theory of the development of religion as one of the founders of religious science. Regardless of the evolutionism of this tradition, Animism should here be understood as a position that does not accept a clear distinction between inanimate or unensouled things and living beings. “Every object, irrespective of whether it consisted of organic or inorganic substance, irrespective of wheth…

1. Definition and overview Contingency and chance are concepts by which, since the dawn of history, people have sought to understand the world, especially the vicissitudes and shocks of life and natural phenomena. The two belong to the same field of meaning, with contingency denoting the fundamental openness or indeterminacy of human existence and its history. Chance, meanwhile, is invoked in specific circumstances, for instance to explain particular events.Historically speaking, the concept of chance has manifested itself in various guises that considerably exp…

1. Concept and forms A herbarium in the strict sense in the early modern period was a collection of dried specimens of plants and plant parts affixed to paper. Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, who wrote a guide to the preparation of dried plants in 1700, not long after Wilhelm Lauremberg and Moritz Hofmann, saw the advantage as being able to make observations regardless of season [1. 671].In a wider sense known since antiquity, the paintings, and later prints and colored illustrations and descriptions of plants were also considered part of the phenomenon. Coll…

1. Definition Livestock are domesticated animals, as opposed to wild animals (which are also frequently of use to humans). The definition is often blurred. For example, all animals bred by humans for particular purposes could be called livestock, including not only worms, which are used in fishing, but also animals used in scientific experiments since the 18th century (Animal experimentation), or the many animals domesticated for human companionship.The term livestock is an anthropocentric one (Anthropocentrism), that is, it has meaning only in its reference…

1. IntroductionSince the dawn of human history, the heavens (Heaven) with the Sun and Moon (the governing celestial bodies of day and night) have in all cultures been a subject of mythological, symbolic, and scholarly reflection and imagination, and of intellectual curiosity. Religious rites in many of the world’s cultures also refer to the heavens to this day [21. 9–135]. In the astronomical lore of the early cultures, observing the skies yielded the practical knowledge of (and ability to forecast) the paths of the Sun, Moon, and stars; in Christi…

1. DefinitionIn many cultures since antiquity, avoidance of meat consumption has been recognized as a form of theriophily (empathic consideration for animals; see fig. 1) and has occasionally been promoted as a religious or dietary rule (Naturopathy). This avoidance has been extended occasionally to include the use of animal products, for example, for apparel. In early modern Europe, however, it is rare to find evidence for rejection of the use of all animal products (veganism, lacto-ovo-vegetari…

1. Definition and introductionThroughout human history, the stars have been a point of orientation, both literally and figuratively speaking. They were needed for the mathematical calculation of the religious festival calendar and holidays, as well as being an awe-inspiring wonder of nature and – in the form of constellations along the annual ecliptic (Zodiac) – a means of interpreting the present and future. At night, they served navigation. In all cultures, therefore, the sky and celestial phenom…

1. Introduction In the fourfold concept of the natural world that held sway from Antiquity, air was one of the four elements. It was believed to be a weightless element between fire and earth and water. Soon after 1491, the  Heidelberger Schicksalsbuch drew attention to the association between air and meteorological phenomena: “In the air are many transformations of fire, water, and wind. Watery being rain, dew, frost, snow, hail, fog” ( Jn dem lufft werden manigerlay verwandelung fewrs wassers vnd windts. Wässerig als regen taw reiff schne hagel nebel) (107r; [2]). There is no me…

1. Definition and overview The control of fire is a cultural technique that, unlike the use of hands, language, tools, or communication, which are also available to animals, is unique to humans. It is thus unsurprising that fire holds a position of some importance in the mythological and philosophical systems of all cultures [7. 11]. In the tradition of European thought, fire was one of the four elements of which all things of the sublunar world (beneath the first planetary sphere) were composed. Called into question in the 17th century by Robert …

1. Definition and introductionThe word “wilderness” derives from the Old English  wilddeor  (wild animal), and since the Middle Ages has denoted their preserve: uncultivated nature. As such, it highlights the original meaning of the word “culture,” as the “cultivation” (Latin cultura) of nature in the sense of deliberate intervention into a nature otherwise existing and developing in a state of chaos, that is, without perceptible order (Order [system]). In the Jewish and Christian traditions, Creation and Paradise – concepts of…

1. Definition and overview Animal breeding in the narrower sense comprises the varyingly targeted selection of parent animals in order to produce offspring with desired characteristics, generally ones that can be successfully exploited economically. In the broader sense the term would include everything necessary for and conducive to the rearing of young animals. In the narrow sense animal breeding presupposes detailed knowledge of the forms of animal reproduction and the rules of heredit…