History and Philosophy of Science

Subject areas of possible interest to those researching within the topic of Zoology might include Animals -- Florida, Zoology -- Florida, Zoology, Zoology -- History, Physiology, Comparative, Entomology, Ornithology, Parasitology, Migration, and Huxley, Thomas Henry 1825-1895. 

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) was the pupil of Plato and took great interest in the natural world. This included many aspects of meteorology and geography, however, Aristotle's greatest contribution to science was in the fields of natural history and biology. He was the first to use empirical methods and techniques in a proto-scientific method, and these methods would lay out the foundation for future researchers. Aristotle wrote a number of books based on his study of Zoology including some of the earliest studies of the natural world Parts of Animals and History of Animals. You can see more of his works held at FSU here  .

Known as "Darwin's Bulldog", Thomas Henry Huxley was one of the first adherents to Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and made more effort than anyone else to advance its acceptance among scientists and the public alike. In 1863, five years after Darwin's Origin of Species was published, Huxley's most famous writing Evidence on Man's Place in Nature was published. This book served as a comprehensive review of what was known at the time about primate and human paleontology and ethology. It was also the first recorded attempt to apply evolution explicitly to the human race. Darwin had avoided direct mention of human evolution, and Huxley, as a follower and fellow scientist, expounded upon this notion, explicitly presenting evidence for human evolution. Huxley and his colleagues went on to show that the brains of apes and humans were fundamentally similar in every anatomical detail.