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Newguest Posted 17 years ago
Vocabulary

Hounded in her wandering

Hi



The scientific revolution which Descartes and Newton initiated gave human beings a new sense of power over nature, which led some philosophers and scientists to extremes of megalomania. Descartes himself stated that human beings were destined to become “lords and masters of nature,” while the philosopher Bacon declared that nature “should be hounded in her wandering, bound into service…and made a slave.”

--- I understand "made a slave", however I'm not sure about "should be hounded in her wandering". As for "bound into service" I think it means it should "serve us", but I think that my interpretation is not as accurate as it should be. So maybe it means "it was forced to serve us"?
  

Top answer

Greetings, Newguest, your interpretation is quite right. Bound into service means made to serve (people)/coerced to obey (people) ; Nature should be hounded in her wandering suggests a parallel with a dangerous criminal on the loose - such a villain must be caught and stopped from moving uncontrollably. To hound means to pursue relentlessly.

  • Greetings, Newguest, your interpretation is quite right.
  • Bound into service means made to serve (people)/coerced to obey (people) ; Nature should be hounded in her wandering suggests a parallel with a dangerous criminal on the loose - such a villain must be caught and stopped from moving uncontrollably.
  • To hound means to pursue relentlessly.
  • The whole idea the sentence expresses is that nature is not controlled by people to a desired extent, so they should keep a tight rein on it.
  • Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff
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3 Answers
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Greetings, Newguest,

your interpretation is quite right. Bound into service means made to serve (people)/coerced to obey (people);

Nature should be hounded in her wandering suggests a parallel with a dangerous criminal on the loose - such a villain must be caught and stopped from moving uncontrollably. To hound means to pursue relentlessly. Th
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Hi

Thanks for the answer. I think I understand it!
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You are welcome, my friend. I'm glad this helped. Good luck to you.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

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