Tribulations of a Naturalist Essays - Knowledge, Epistemology

Tribulations of a Naturalist No matter; was not my splendid income supposed to cover everything, food for the mind as well as food for the body? Jean Henri Fabre writes this line in his Tribulations of a Naturalist, discussing the matter of knowledge being necessary for human life. Man has an innate desire to understand his surroundings and is the only creature who feels the need to obtain knowledge. Throughout time, humankind has constantly strived to expand its knowledge, always reading and writing on what we know and do not know. From caveman to scientist, humans have gained a world of knowledge through their thirst for information and are still far from knowing everything. People spend entire lifetimes trying to understand the inner workings of nature and are constantly discovering new information on it. Knowledge is limitless, and mankind will always try to understand everything, even though it is impossible. As humans, we will never be content with what is already known; we are forever filled with curiosity. No other animal feels the need to study the world around them; every creature is at peace with following the orde r set out for them and cannot be found questioning the meaning of their surroundings. We are always looking for new ways to do things, and for the meaning behind nature. All the knowledge we seek after is infinite, and can never be fully known, no matter how many lifetimes are spent trying to obtain it. Mankind will always be questioning what is known, and trying to answer what is not.