Chapter 2 by Andrea Guinanzaca

Chapter two covers how Kolbert studies the history of the concept of “extinction”. She first begins with the idea that everyone from the age of 4 had some sort of idea what extinction meant. She uses children as an example because children at an early age know that extinction exists because they know that dinosaurs once existed. The first historical figure that  Kolbert introduces is Aristotle, who wrote a long essay about animals went extinct. Later, she introduces Carl Linnaeus, a biologist who also supported the concept that animals go extinct. Later, the main historical figure that Kolbert focuses is on Georges Cuvier. He was a young man that studied fossils of different animals. The fossils he studied made him realize that the animal remains who once belonged to doesn't exist anymore. He also believed that animals go extinct, however, he didn’t know why and what were the reasons that caused animals to go extinct. So, therefore, there was no way for him to back up his idea. Throughout the chapter, we notice how evidence becomes an important strategy when trying to prove a scientific theory. In addition, Cuvier still continues to study further into his idea in order to make it a definite and robust theory. In order to do this, Cuvier took 2 steps in order to make this possible, he first continued to travel around the world, researched and studied more extinct species. Secondly, he shared his findings and ideas with the public. He took these two initiatives in order to prove his theory since it was controversial. Back then many believed that extinction existed but other did not; similar to how people think about extinction today. In the chapter, Kolbert description of Cuviers’ story shows how dedicated he was to prove his theory. Although he died, he was known for his scientific discoveries and became a popular and respected scientist.

An APES theme that can connect to this chapter is science is a process. According to the chapter, it states, “By the middle of the nineteenth century, many of [Georges Cuvier’s] ideas had been discredited. But the most recent discoveries have tended to support those very theories of his that were most thoroughly vilified, with the result that Cuvier's essentially tragic vision of earth history has come to seem pathetic.” This is because Cuvier’s story reflects how it takes days, months, years, decades, and even centuries for a theory to be supported in the science field.  Also, due to Cuvier's discoveries and proven theory, his idea eventually supported the term “fossil craze”. It was a term that made scientists realize that older fossils were buried deeper. Overall, the ideas that human activity creates destruction wasn’t mentioned in this chapter. This shows how scientists didn’t believe that human beings were responsible for the upcoming mass extinction. However, the idea changes as more scientific research are being done.