An 18th Century Revolution

PGS Literary Society: How An 18^th Century Hampshire Vicar Started an Ecological Revolution

On Thursday, 25^th January, Mr Burkinshaw gave a talk to the PGS Literary Society on Gilbert White’s Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne.

Published in 1789, in the same year as the French Revolution, White’s book was itself revolutionary; twenty-first century ecologists see Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne as a foundational text in its close observation of complex and intricate ecosystems. White was not only a pioneering scientist but a gifted writer, who saw no boundary between science and art. The creative tension between scientific precision and poetic vision, empirical detachment and empathetic connection, helps explain why White’s Natural History influenced individuals as diverse as pantheistic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, in the next century, and so many scientists and artists in our own time. Today, we recognise more than ever the quiet urgency of Gilbert White’s message that we have to find a more respectful and empathetic way of living among our fellow creatures. 

You can read a transcript of Mr Burkinshaw’s talk here