ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MINERAL?

Since the time of Aristotle, there had been a clear divide between the three kingdoms of animal, vegetable, and mineral. But by the eighteenth century, biological experiments, and the wide range of new creatures coming to Europe from across the world, challenged t hese neat divisions. The boundaries appeared to blur. And what did all this say about the nature of life itself? Were animals and p lants soul-less, mechanical forms, as Descartes suggested? The debates raging across science played into some of the biggest and mos t controv...[Read more]