A spectrum of philosophical and political possibilities existed, all of which could be subsumed under the general rubric of 'organic.' NATURE AS NURTURE: CONTROLLING IMAGERY. The organismic metaphor, however, was immensely flexible and adapt able to varying contexts, depending on which of its presuppositions was emphasized.

The idea of nature as a living organism had philosophical antecedents in ancient systems of thought, variations of which formed the prevailing ideological framework of the sixteenth century. As a projection of the way people experienced daily life, organismic theory emphasized interdependence among the parts of the human body, subordination of individual to communal purposes in family, community, and state, and vital lift permeating the cosmos to the lowliest stone. Thus it is not surprising that for sixteenth-century Europeans the root metaphor binding together the self, society, and the cosmos was that of an organism. In 1500, the daily interaction with nature was still structured for most Europeans, as it was for other Peoples, by close-knit, cooperative, organic communities. From the obscure origins of our species, human beings have lived in daily, immediate, organic relation with the natural order for their sustenance. Nature as Female The world we have lost was organic.

The story about ping by marjorie flack