ipl-logo

Summary Of Excerpt By Loren Eiseley

923 Words4 Pages

In the excerpt, Loren Eiseley discusses the evolution of the human brain, from being primitive and slow growing to the cognitive and advanced brain that it is now today. Eiseley uses Gavin de Beer’s suggestion as evidence that explains that because various characteristics from the primitive ancestor changed, such as the “hairy covering”, teeth, and sex life, it led to the evolution of longer infancy, which links to the reason why our brains have grown so much. It is through this longer stage of infancy that the brain has more time to develop and grows at a faster rate, which is the reason as to why humans have evolved to be the way they are mentally and physically. Eiseley, through the topic that he discusses, intended for his essay to appeal …show more content…

Eiseley provides information pertaining to the evolution of the apes to humans, specifically by mentioning how the most important tool known to man has developed to be the way it is, and that is the brain. Eiseley uses Beer’s suggestion on evolution, which was the longer rate of infancy in humans that has helped the brain developed greater than those of other species. By doing so, Eiseley presents himself as a knowledgeable source in this certain situation, and also his studies of philosophy and historical science depicts him as a credible and reliable source on this topic. Eiseley later closes this ethical question, whether religion or science might be right or wrong, by stating that “neurologists…. Suspect that here may lie other potentialities which only the future of the race may …show more content…

Although there may not be a direct answer to how the human brain evolved, there exists theories and suggestions, such as Gavin de Beer’s suggestion on evolution, that could be explanations as to how this came to be. Beer says that it is the “lengthened infancy” that is credited to boosting evolution in the human brain, that has caused us to lose our “ hairy covering, our jaws and teeth were reduced in size, our sex life was postponed”. Therefore, it explains the path our body’s took in evolution, creating a feeling of awe and amazement because of the ability of our bodies to evolve in such a way, leading our brains to develop in such a way. Eiseley also creates a suspenseful feeling in his audience when he states “ Some neurologists…. Suggest that here may lie other potentialities which only the future of the race may reveal.” meaning that there could be more than one reason why our brains evolved and that they will continue to evolve, having a surprise in store for us to find

Show More
Related
258 Words | 2 Pages

In Blah, Blah, Blah, the author Kim Kessler discusses the various uses for the phrase “blah, blah, blah”. She mentions how often she has encountered this phrase recently and how frequently people her age use it to complete a thought. The author believes the employment of this phrase can be explained through a few reasons. These reasons include a lack of interesting material in conversations and a way to get to the interesting part of the story quickly. In addition, it is a method invoked by the person speaking to save both energy and time, as well as to show that the person telling the story and the person listening share an understanding.

Read More
825 Words | 4 Pages

The author starts out stating that not much remains of Hugh Glass because after all, the only known direct source from Hugh Glass himself is a single letter. Because of this, not much is known about him, which the author states is why he chose him. No one knows of his opinions or his appearance. The only thing the author and other historians can definitely know for sure is that he had phenomenal survival skills. Hugh Glass was mauled by a female grizzly bear in the summer of 1823.

Read More
79 Words | 1 Pages

The death of Loren Eiseley was truly a tragedy which occurred on July 9, 1977, after going into cardiac arrest despite a desperate surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. He was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery next to his wife who died after Eiseley. The inscription on their headstone reads, "We loved the earth but could not stay," which is a line from his poem The Little Treasures and portrays Eiseley’s lifestyle and way of thinking elegantly.

Read More
755 Words | 4 Pages

Social Environment: A summary of the Killers’ life from birth to arrest. Larry Eyler, a white male was born on December 21, 1952. His childhood days were spent in the same geographical area within which he was born, namely Crawfordville, Indiana, United States of America. Eyler was described as physically attractive with few episodes in his adolescent and young adult life that would render him obvious (Bahr, Snuffer & Wright, n.d). Eyler’s first sexual encounter or experience is unknown.

Read More
644 Words | 3 Pages

In Night, there are several quotes residing within its covers which are of the utmost significance along with containing utter poignancy. These quotes are not mellifluous and influence the novel in their own idiosyncratic methods. There were moments when the main protagonist reaches a religious nadir, which is concomitant to the loss of hope in his future dreams. The second quote projects a differentiation in Eliezer's opinion of soup, contingent on his previous observations of executions. The last quote containing a deep meaning about the imperious dictator Hitler.

Read More
221 Words | 1 Pages

Malcolm Gladwell in chapter nine of Outliers argues that to become an outlier, one has to be given a chance and he/she has to be willing to put effort to seize it. Gladwell uses Marita, who went to KIPP Academy, as an example. Marita wakes up at “five-forty-five a.m.” to prepare for school, and “leaves school at five p.m.” (pg.264). That’s almost a half day spent at school, which leaves little time for Marita’s responsibilities. However, KIPP promised that it will give her “a chance to get out” (pg.267) of poverty, and nonetheless Marita studied day to night in hopes of a much better future.

Read More
714 Words | 3 Pages

In 1847 Eliza Stacey, a frontier farmer’s wife, writes a letter to her father-in-law Edward Stacey for financial aid after her husband George had been arrested and taken to jail. Her family was deep into debt and needed help. As she was nearing the end of her pregnancy, she was swamped with stress and work. This letter attempts to persuade her father-in-law to help her family once more by stressing the time and urgency of the situation, establishing how he is the only who can help them, and taking off blame from themselves. Stacey tries to procure her father-in-law’s sympathy for her dire situation by stressing the time and urgency of it.

Read More
1301 Words | 6 Pages

Paragraph 175 draws upon the testimony of five homosexuals who survived the Holocaust. Gad Beck, Annette Eick, Heinz Dormer, and Pierre Seel are some of the all-but-vanished homosexual survivors who speak of the horror of the Nazi purge of homosexuals. Narrated by Rupert Everett, Paragraph 175 highlights the experiences of those homosexuals who were persecuted during the Holocaust. Paragraph 175 takes its title from a portion of the German penal code enacted in 1871: '' An unnatural sex act committed between persons of male sex or by humans with animals is punishable by imprisonment; the loss of civil rights may also be imposed.''

Read More
1139 Words | 5 Pages

James Watson once said, “The brain is the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe”. It is responsible for every single movement in our body; from thinking, learning, breathing, creating memories and more. But the brain is not always perfect. We all have occasional “brain farts” or misperceptions of the world around us. Sometimes we believe that we have experienced vivid moments that we have never actually been through.

Read More
1362 Words | 6 Pages

In 1986, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Elie Wiesel for his book Night, a memoir of his experience during the Holocaust. His acceptance speech was intended to ensure that the events of the Holocaust were not echoed in the future; that no human being would be subjected to the same torment that he was. Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her fight for the right to education of children and all young people. In her acceptance speech, Yousafzai shows great knowledge about the subject, and through touching stories and comments on her assassination attempt by the Taliban, she reaches out to people from all over the world. Through the use of rhetorical appeals and techniques, both authors manage to get their messages across.

Read More
128 Words | 1 Pages

In the excerpt for Night by Elie Wiesel, Elie was in disbelief of what his God let happen but he tried to live with it even though he could never forget it. In the passage he says, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.” Elie mentions his God being murdered because he could not believe his God let all of this happen, let all of those people die. The narrator’s choice of the word “murdered” in that sentence helps show the reader how horrified the author was. Elie’s purpose of the message he was trying to convey was traumatized he was about the people being murdered left and right, and his God was letting it happen.

Read More
239 Words | 1 Pages

James Mark Baldwin , evolutionist inspired by Charles Darwin, Baldwin developed a biosocial theory. Baldwin was the first Psychologist to use children, his own daughters in scientific observation. Baldwin’s theories pioneered contemporary psychology. Major is his theory on behavioral adaptation to knowledge development. What we understand today as the biopsychosocial theory of intellectual evolution and behavior stems from his theories of natural heredity through genetics and social heredity through environment and culture.

Read More
86 Words | 1 Pages

This passage displays that the main character, Holden may have feelings for an old friend named Jane. Stradlater explained how he was leaving on a date with this girl he just met and Holden realizes that he recognizes the girl Stradlater talked about. After Stradlater finished Holden couldn’t stop talking and thinking about Jane. He kept rambling and getting nervous about going up to her to greet her. Stradlater also noticed how Holden kept saying he should go say hello to her but wouldn 't do

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

The two readings I have chosen are Your Brain On Fiction by Annie Murphy Paul which is about how different parts of your brain react to certain words or phrases, and Is Creativity Sexy? The Evolutionary Advantages of Artistic Thinking by Sam McNerney which talks about the connection between sex and creativity. Murphy Paul and McNerney did a satisfying job keeping me concerned throughout the reading starting with the relations with gender, the title and the evolution with science. One thing that kept me interested in Sam McNerney’s article was how when it came to creativity and sex it depended on gender and motivational state, as said at the beginning of paragraph six. I can understand why people would agree with this because of the stereotype

Read More
1641 Words | 7 Pages

However, with exponential advancements in neuroscience, we are forced to wonder whether we will ever fully understand all the complexities of the brain. If such a day were to arise, we would reach a knowledge barrier, as everything to know about human behaviour would already have been revealed. Therefore, unlike natural selection which theoretically should never stop changing, our knowledge would come to a halt at its perfect form. Until that day arrives however, there is no evidence to suggest that our psychological understandings are developing differently from natural selection. Lastly, if our knowledge is dependent on memory and sense perception – ways of knowing that are linked to physical brain capacity, which only increases through evolution – then one could say that our capacity for knowledge literally develops according to the principles of natural

Read More

More about Summary Of Excerpt By Loren Eiseley

Related Topics

Open Document