Carolyn Merchant facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Carolyn Merchant

Born	(1936-07-12) 12 July 1936 (age 88) Rochester, New York
Nationality	American
Education	M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Science
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison
Occupation	Ecofeminist philosopher, historian of science, Distinguished Professor Emerita of Environmental History, Philosophy, and Ethics at UC Berkeley
Notable work	Author of The Death of Nature

Carolyn Merchant (born July 12, 1936, in Rochester, New York) is an American thinker who studies how people relate to nature. She is known for her ideas about how our view of nature has changed over time.

She is especially famous for her book The Death of Nature. In this book, she explains that during the Scientific Revolution (in the 1600s), people started to see nature differently. Instead of a living, nurturing force, nature began to be seen as something that could be taken apart, studied, and controlled, like a machine. Her work is very important in understanding the history of how we think about the environment and science. She used to be a professor at UC Berkeley, teaching about environmental history, philosophy, and ethics.

Carolyn Merchant's Education and Career
The Death of Nature: A Key Book
Carolyn Merchant's Philosophy
Legacy of The Death of Nature
Other Books by Carolyn Merchant
Edited Books
List of publications
See also

Carolyn Merchant's Education and Career

Carolyn Merchant was a very bright student. In 1954, while still in high school, she was one of the top ten finalists in a big science competition called the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She then went to Vassar College and earned a degree in Chemistry in 1958.

Later, she studied at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she earned her master's and Ph.D. degrees in the history of science. She was one of the first women to receive a special fellowship there, which helped show that women could make important contributions in professional fields.

She taught at the University of San Francisco for several years, starting in 1969. She also taught as a visiting professor at Oregon State University.

Carolyn Merchant has been a member of the History of Science Society since 1962. She also held important roles in the American Society for Environmental History, including being its president.

In 1984, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Sweden, where she taught about the history of ideas.

In 1979, she joined the University of California, Berkeley, where she became a full professor in 1986. She retired in 2018 but continues to be involved with the university as a Professor of the Graduate School.

Throughout her career, she has received many awards and fellowships, including from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. She has given over 360 talks around the world and her books have been reviewed and discussed more than 230 times.

The Death of Nature: A Key Book

The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution is Carolyn Merchant's most famous book. It was first published in 1980 and has been updated several times.

In this book, she explains how the idea of gender is important when we look at the history of modern science. She focuses on how ideas about women and nature were linked in the 1500s and 1600s. Merchant shows how early modern writers often used ideas about women to describe nature, and how this influenced how people treated the environment.

This book has been translated into many languages, including Japanese, German, Italian, Swedish, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, French, and Portuguese, showing its global impact.

Carolyn Merchant's Philosophy

Carolyn Merchant believes that before the Scientific Revolution in the 1600s, people often thought of nature as a kind and nurturing mother. Nature was seen as alive and full of life, even if it could sometimes be wild.

However, she argues that this idea slowly changed. As science developed, people started to see nature as something that could be studied, taken apart, and controlled. It was like a machine that could reveal its secrets and then be managed. This idea of "dominating nature" or "unveiling nature's secrets" is still common in science today.

Merchant explains that people began to see the Earth less as a living giver of life and more as a resource to be used. This happened as scientists became more confident that they could understand everything about the natural world and change it as they wished.

She points out that thinkers like Francis Bacon used ideas about women to describe how nature could be controlled. Bacon suggested that nature could be "bound into service" and made to work "under man's authority." This way of thinking saw nature as something to be conquered, much like a slave.

These changes, along with the growth of factories and capitalism (an economic system focused on making money), also changed how people lived. For example, machines started doing work that women traditionally did, and more people moved to cities, moving further away from nature. Merchant believes that these combined changes still affect how we think about society, politics, and our relationship with the environment today.

Legacy of The Death of Nature

The Death of Nature has had a huge impact on how we study environmental history, philosophy, and feminism. It is considered a groundbreaking book because it connects the idea of nature being seen as female with the idea of women being seen as closer to nature. Merchant supports this connection with historical evidence from the Enlightenment period.

While other thinkers like Françoise d'Eaubonne and Susan Griffin also explored similar ideas, The Death of Nature is especially important because it was the first book to look at the history of ecology from an ecofeminist point of view.

Other Books by Carolyn Merchant

Carolyn Merchant has written many other important books:

Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender, and Science in New England (1989, 2010)

This book looks at how the environment changed in New England as European settlers arrived. It describes how the land was transformed from a natural state to one controlled by humans, first through farming and then through factories and cities.

Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World (1992, 2005, 2007)

In this book, Merchant argues that simply having laws or scientific research isn't enough to fix environmental problems. She suggests that we need new ways of thinking about society, economics, science, and spirituality to truly change how humans interact with nature and create a world where we can all live well.

Earthcare: Women and the Environment (1996)

This book encourages people to rethink how Western societies have treated nature in the past. It suggests a new way of thinking about environmentalism, called a "partnership ethic," where men and women work together with nature to create a healthy and sustainable world.

Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture (2003, 2013)

Carolyn Merchant explores the story of the Garden of Eden from ancient times to today. She argues that we need to see nature as an active force, not just something for us to use. We should work with nature, balancing our needs with the needs of the natural world, to create a more sustainable future.

American Environmental History: An Introduction (2007)

This book helps us understand how different groups of people have changed, shaped, and protected the natural world in America over time. It looks at important issues like how native peoples were removed from national parks and how wilderness areas were preserved, considering gender, race, and social class.

Autonomous Nature: Problems of Prediction and Control from Ancient Times to the Scientific Revolution (2015)

This book explores how people have viewed nature throughout history. It looks at how nature was seen as an unpredictable force, but also as something orderly that could be understood and controlled through science. It discusses why unpredictability was a problem in the past and why it still is today.

Spare the Birds! George Bird Grinnell and the First Audubon Society (2016)

This book tells the story of George Bird Grinnell, an explorer and conservationist who started the first Audubon Society and Audubon Magazine in 1887. He wanted to protect birds that were being hunted for their feathers or losing their homes. The book shows how his mission was later continued by others who believed in his cause.

Science and Nature: Past, Present and Future (2018)

This book brings together many of Carolyn Merchant's ideas about the history of science, environmental history, and ethics. It explores her thoughts on how science, women, nature, and history are connected, offering a vision for the future.

The Anthropocene and the Humanities (2020)

This book focuses on the idea of the "Anthropocene," which means "The Age of Humanity." It suggests that this new age began around 1766 with the invention of the steam engine, which led to many new technologies and changed the world. Merchant explores how history, art, literature, religion, philosophy, ethics, and justice can help us think about sustainability in the future.

Edited Books

Carolyn Merchant has also edited several books, bringing together the work of other scholars:

Major Problems in American Environmental History (1993, 2004, 2012): This book helps students learn about important topics in U.S. environmental history by reading original documents and essays by historians.
Key Concepts in Critical Theory: Ecology (1994, 2008): This collection of essays explores different ideas about ecology, including how economies affect the environment, the link between poverty and population, and the need for new ways of thinking about nature.
Green Versus Gold: Sources in California's Environmental History (1998): This book offers a look at California's environmental history, from its Native American past to modern conflicts, using many different sources.
Encyclopedia of World Environmental History, 3 vols. (2004): Co-edited with Shepherd Krech III and John McNeill, this large encyclopedia covers how humans have changed the natural world throughout history and how natural events have impacted societies.
After the Death of Nature: Carolyn Merchant and the Future of Human-Nature Relations (2018): This book honors Carolyn Merchant's work and explores her ideas about how humans and nature can have healthier and fairer relationships in the future.

Carolyn Merchant has also written more than 100 research articles on her own.

List of publications

The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution (1980, 2e 1990, 3e 2020)
Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender, and Science in New England (1989, 2010)
Radical Ecology: The Search for a Livable World (1992, 2005)
Major Problems in American Environmental History (1993, 2004, 2012, editor)
Key Concepts in Critical Theory: Ecology (1994, 2008, editor)
Earthcare: Women and the Environment (1996)
Green Versus Gold: Sources in California's Environmental History (1998, editor)
Columbia Guide to American Environmental History (2002)
Reinventing Eden: The Fate of Nature in Western Culture (2003, 2013)
Encyclopedia of World Environmental History, 3 vols. (2004, co-editor)
American Environmental History: An Introduction (2007)
Autonomous Nature: Problems of Prediction and Control from Ancient Times to the Scientific Revolution (2015)
Spare the Birds! George Bird Grinnell and the First Audubon Society (2016)
Science and Nature: Past, Present and Future (2018)
The Anthropocene and the Humanities (2020)