When Was Culture Invented?
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Imagine that a time machine has set you down in England in the late 14th century, and you bump into Geoffrey Chaucer just as an apple falls from a tree. Before you can exclaim "Sir Isaac Newton!" Chaucer explains what you've seen. "The ground and the apple partake of the element of earth," he says, "which means the apple has a 'kindly enclyning' for its natural element below. Hanging in the tree, in the higher element of air, had been unnatural for the apple all along." You're dumbfounded at Chaucer's explanation. What about gravity? But try as you might, you cannot drive into his mind the fact that the mass of the earth exerts a force upon the apple. You return to the 21st century shaking your head: If narrow-minded people like Chaucer helped forge our culture, it's no wonder things are as mad as they are today.
Department(s)
English and Journalism
Publication Title
National Affairs
Volume
No. 55
Publication Date
Summer 2022
Recommended Citation
Ritchie, D. (2022). When Was Culture Invented? National Affairs, No. 55 (Spring).