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Browse materialsMIT 21L.449 · Spring 2002

End of Nature

Subject: History

Art: Gustave Doré, Gustave Doré, Illustration for John Milton’s “Paradise Lost“, 1866.…, 1866 · Public domain

Instructor: Prof. Alvin Kibel
Term: Spring 2002
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 1 reading · 10 other files · 3 web pages
Materials open: MIT OCW

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Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 21L.449 End of Nature, Spring 2002, Prof. Alvin Kibel — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 23, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

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MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Alvin Kibel, 21L.449 End of Nature, Spring 2002.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Spring 2002 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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End of Nature

Before you start

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Materials by section

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Assignments

Lecture 1: Introduction: The Image of Nature in Genesis.

Lecture 2: Forster, E. M. “The Machine Stops.”

Lecture 3: Ancient Views of Nature: Aristotle. Physics. Bk II. Cicero. Excerpt from On the Gods: The Discourse of Balbus.

Lecture 4: Montaigne. “On Cannibals.” Bacon, Francis. “The New Atlantis.” Drayton. To the Virginia Voyage. Marvell. Bermudas. Shakespeare. The Tempest.

Lecture 5: Shakespeare. The Tempest. (continued)

Lecture 6: Defoe. Robinson Crusoe.

Lecture 7: Defoe. Robinson Crusoe. (continued)

Lecture 8: Linnaeus. Excerpts from The Economy of Nature. White, Gilbert. Excerpt from The Natural History of Selbourne. Hume, David. Excerpts from Dialogues on Natural Religion.

Lecture 9: Hume, David. Dialogues on Natural Religion. (continued)

Lecture 10: Rousseau. Excerpts from On the Origins of Inequality.

Lecture 11: Rousseau. Excerpts from On the Origins of Inequality. (continued) Wordsworth. Selections from The Prelude.

Lecture 12: Wordsworth. Selections from The Prelude. (continued)

Lecture 13: Wordsworth. Selections from The Prelude. (continued)

Lecture 14: Thoreau, Henry David. Excerpts from Walden.

Lecture 15: Thoreau, Henry David. Excerpts from Walden. (continued)

Lecture 16: Thoreau, Henry David. Excerpts from Walden. (continued) Keats. The Grasshopper and the Cricket, To Autumn.

Lecture 17: Darwin. Selections from On the Origin of Species.

Lecture 18: Darwin. Selections from On the Origin of Species. (continued) Frost, Robert. Design, Come In, The Most of It.

Lecture 19: Wells, H. G. The Island of Dr. Moreau.

Lecture 20: Wells. Selections from On the Origin of Species. (continued)

Lecture 21: Huxley, T. H. “Evolution and Ethics.” Hardin, Garret. “The Tragedy of the Commons.”

Lecture 22: Williams, George. “A Sociobiological Expansion of ‘Evolution and Ethics’.”

Lecture 23: Faulkner, William. “The Bear.” In Go Down, Moses.

Lecture 24: Faulkner. Selections from On the Origin of Species. (continued) Leopold, Aldo. “The Land Ethic.”

Lecture 25: Le Guin, Ursula K. “Vaster Than Empires and More Slow.”

Lecture 26: Midgley, Mary. “Duties Concerning Islands.” Callicot, J. Baird. “Animal Liberation.”