The Naturalist’s Wonder: Exploring Nature’s Marvels and Oddities
Etonnement naturaliste et merveilles naturelles
Zoomathia Conference 2025
Conference Zoomathia 2025
Published on Friday, April 04, 2025
Abstract
Nature is often aberrant, or at least so disconcerting that it would be a form of ignorance not to marvel at it. The nature of animals, like that of plants, « overflows on all sides »(Theophrastus). This call for papers is addressed to all those—historians of science, historians of texts, biologists—who are interested in what Aristotle described as « the non-ordinary order of nature, » in its most disconcerting manifestations. Presentations may focus on motifs of natural strangeness, whether in experience or history, addressing anatomical, physiological, or behavioral aspects, as well as fields such as communication, technical skills, or what is vaguely referred to as the « animal sixth sense. »
Announcement
Argument
Nature is often aberrant, or at least so disconcerting that it would be a form of ignorance not to marvel at it. The nature of animals, like that of plants, « overflows on all sides » (Theophrastus). In ancient and medieval literature, there is a long tradition of accounts and descriptions of naturalist oddities and wonders, particularly concerning animals. These accounts have generally been taken lightly or even treated with condescension by modern critics, by enlightened minds shaped by the spirit of a new, scientific, and resolutely modern era. However, the illusion may not be where it appears to be.
This ancient tradition testifies to a curiosity and a sense of wonder about the plasticity of life and the diversity of organisms and faculties of living beings: iron-gnawing mice, healing animals, sophisticated social rituals, sexual alternation, dispersed brains, animal premonition, biomimicry, etc. If we stop fixating on the exemplary monsters of medieval bestiaries, we uncover numerous accounts whose strangeness corresponds to the strangeness of nature itself.
The aim of this conference is to explore zoological questions through the lens of extravagance and in their non-ordinary modes, drawing on both ancient and modern scholarly perspectives. It seeks to examine how natural oddities are perceived, accepted, and interpreted, and how they sometimes renew our understanding of animals and life in general.
Today, as in the past, natural phenomena remain strange and difficult to explain for many. In the field of behavior, modern biologists have developed the concept of instinct as a general explanatory principle. Some today invoke the idea of a « sixth sense » to account for certain abilities that surpass human understanding, such as the perceptive or migratory capacities of some species. Biologists’ research on the atypical faculties of animals—each of which has developed some extraordinary form of excellence in one area or another—rightly interests specialists in both natural and artificial sciences (such as doctors and engineers). Precisely because these faculties are « extraordinary. »
It is highly likely that the physiological or ethological models we adopted in the 20th century are schematic and partly inadequate for understanding biological diversity. Restoring a sense of astonishment—not as an emotion of ignorance, but as a lucid driver of scientific inquiry—and taking seriously the discourse of those who marvel at nature allows us to challenge and refine the modest and tentative knowledge of life sciences specialists.
This call for papers is therefore addressed to all those—historians of science, historians of texts, biologists—who are interested in what Aristotle described as « the non-ordinary order of nature, » in its most disconcerting manifestations. Presentations may focus on motifs of natural strangeness, whether in experience or history, addressing anatomical, physiological, or behavioral aspects, as well as fields such as communication, technical skills, or what is vaguely referred to as the « animal sixth sense. »
Submission guidelines
The organizers welcome proposals (in English, French, German, Italian or Spanish). Note that a written version of the papers will be rapidly submitted to an editor. Conference papers will be 25 minutes, with 10 minutes for discussion. Interested scholars from all academic levels are invited to send an abstract of no more than 500 words to cepam.zoomathia@univ-cotedazur.fr,
by May 05, 2025.
Participants will be notified in June 15, 2025. Accepted papers will be presented on an equal footing with invited speakers.
Important information
- Accommodation and meal expenses will be covered by the organization.
Organisation
- Pascaline Le Gouar (Université de Rennes)
- Nelly Ménard (Université de Rennes)
- SébastienDeregnaucourt (Université Paris-Nanterre)
- Arnaud Zucker (Université Côte-d’Azur)
- Scientific Committee
- Santiago Aragon (Sorbonne Université)
- Marine Grandgeorges (Université de Rennes)
- Michel Kreutzer (Université Paris-Nanterre)
- Pascaline Le Gouar (Université de Rennes)
- Nelly Ménard (Université de Rennes)
- Sébastien Deregnaucourt (Université Paris-Nanterre)
- Isabelle Draelants (IRHT, CNRS)
- Oliver Hellmann(Trier Universität)
- Stavros Lazaris (ICP, CNRS)
- Marco Vespa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
- Arnaud Zucker (Université Côte-d’Azur)
Subjects
- History (Main category)
- Society > Science studies > History of science
- Periods > Prehistory and Antiquity
- Society > Ethnology, anthropology > Cultural anthropology
- Mind and language > Thought > Intellectual history
- Mind and language > Language > Literature
- Periods > Middle Ages
- Mind and language > Epistemology and methodology > Epistemology
Places
- Paimpont, France (35)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Monday, May 05, 2025
Keywords
- zoologie, animaux, antiquité, moyen-âge, merveille, histoire des sciences
Contact(s)
- Organisation
courriel : cepam [dot] zoomathia [at] univ-cotedazur [dot] fr
Information source
- Arnaud Zucker
courriel : Arnaud [dot] ZUCKER [at] univ-cotedazur [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« The Naturalist’s Wonder: Exploring Nature’s Marvels and Oddities », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Friday, April 04, 2025, https://doi.org/10.58079/13one
