Paul Shepard
Encyclopedia
Paul Howe Shepard, Jr. was an American
environmentalist
and author best known for introducing the "Pleistocene
paradigm
" to deep ecology
. His works have attempted to establish a normative framework in terms of evolution
ary theory and developmental psychology
. He offers a critique of sedentism/civilization
and advocates modeling human lifestyles on those of nomadic prehistoric humans. He explores the connections between domestication
, language
, and cognition
.
Based on his early study of modern ethnographic literature examining contemporary nature-based peoples, Shepard created a developmental model for understanding the role of sustained contact with nature in healthy human psychological development, positing that humans, having spent 99% of their social history in hunting and gathering environments, are therefore evolutionarily dependent on nature for proper emotional and psychological growth and development. Drawing from ideas of neoteny
, Shepard postulated that many humans in post-agricultural society are often not fully mature, but are trapped in infantilism or an adolescent state.
He died of lung cancer
on July 21, 1996 in Salt Lake City.
and earned his bachelor's degree
from the University of Missouri
. He went on to earn a doctorate
from Yale
, and his 1967 book Man in the Landscape: a Historic View of the Esthetics of Nature was based on his thesis. From 1973 until his retirement in 1994 he taught at Pitzer College
and Claremont Graduate University
.
train of thought, the essential elements being that "civilization
" itself runs counter to human nature
- that human nature, as Shepard so eloquently stated, is a consciousness
shaped by our evolution and our environment. We are, essentially, "beings of the Paleolithic
".
Some of his most influential books are The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game, Nature and Madness, Coming Home to the Pleistocene, Where we Belong, and the Others.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
environmentalist
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and author best known for introducing the "Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
" to deep ecology
Deep ecology
Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that recognizes an inherent worth of all living beings, regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependence of organisms within ecosystems and that of ecosystems with each other within the...
. His works have attempted to establish a normative framework in terms of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary theory and developmental psychology
Developmental psychology
Developmental psychology, also known as human development, is the scientific study of systematic psychological changes, emotional changes, and perception changes that occur in human beings over the course of their life span. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to...
. He offers a critique of sedentism/civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
and advocates modeling human lifestyles on those of nomadic prehistoric humans. He explores the connections between domestication
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
, language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
, and cognition
Cognition
In science, cognition refers to mental processes. These processes include attention, remembering, producing and understanding language, solving problems, and making decisions. Cognition is studied in various disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science...
.
Based on his early study of modern ethnographic literature examining contemporary nature-based peoples, Shepard created a developmental model for understanding the role of sustained contact with nature in healthy human psychological development, positing that humans, having spent 99% of their social history in hunting and gathering environments, are therefore evolutionarily dependent on nature for proper emotional and psychological growth and development. Drawing from ideas of neoteny
Neoteny
Neoteny , also called juvenilization , is one of the two ways by which paedomorphism can arise. Paedomorphism is the retention by adults of traits previously seen only in juveniles, and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. In neoteny, the physiological development of an...
, Shepard postulated that many humans in post-agricultural society are often not fully mature, but are trapped in infantilism or an adolescent state.
He died of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
on July 21, 1996 in Salt Lake City.
Early life and education
Shepard was born in Kansas CityKansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
and earned his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
. He went on to earn a doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
, and his 1967 book Man in the Landscape: a Historic View of the Esthetics of Nature was based on his thesis. From 1973 until his retirement in 1994 he taught at Pitzer College
Pitzer College
Pitzer College is a private residential liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, a college town approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. Pitzer College is one of the Claremont Colleges....
and Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University
Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...
.
Legacy
Shepard's books have become landmark texts among ecologists and helped pave the way for the modern primitivistAnarcho-primitivism
Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. According to anarcho-primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation...
train of thought, the essential elements being that "civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
" itself runs counter to human nature
Human nature
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally....
- that human nature, as Shepard so eloquently stated, is a consciousness
Consciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
shaped by our evolution and our environment. We are, essentially, "beings of the Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
".
Some of his most influential books are The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game, Nature and Madness, Coming Home to the Pleistocene, Where we Belong, and the Others.
Selected works
- Man in the Landscape: An Historic View of the Esthetics of Nature. New York: Knopf, 1967.
- The Subversive Science: Essays Toward an Ecology of Man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1969.
- Environ/mental: Essays on the Planet as Home. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971.
- The Tender Carnivore and the Sacred Game. New York: Scribners, 1973.
- Thinking Animals: Animals and the Development of Human Intelligence. New York: The Viking Press, 1978.
- The Sacred Paw: The Bear in Nature, Myth, and Literature New York: The Viking Press, 1985.
- Nature and Madness. San Francisco: Sierra Club BooksSierra Club BooksSierra Club Books is the publishing division of the Sierra Club, founded in 1960 by then Sierra Club President David Brower. Volumes intended for club members had been published prior to 1960. In addition, books under their name had been published before 1960, but done through already established...
, 1992. - The Only World We've Got: A Paul Shepard Reader. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996.
- The Others: How Animals Made Us Human. Washington, D. C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 1996.
- Traces of an Omnivore. Washington, D. C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 1996.
- Coming Home to the Pleistocene Florence R. Shepard (Ed.) Washington D.C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 1998.
- Encounters With Nature: Essays by Paul Shepard. Florence R. Shepard (Ed.) Washington, D.C: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 1999.