The Foundation of Scientific Ornithology: Natural History in John Ray’s The Ornithology

From the Renaissance to the late seventeenth century, the view of nature in Europe underwent a fundamental change from the emblematic to the empirical. In this period, English naturalist John Ray introduced an innovative method, “characteristic notes,” in order to accurately describe and identify birds, which lead to a “scientific ornithology” praised by later generations. This thesis will review the intention of Ray’s Ornithology, and show how Baconian thought and the Royal Society influence this work. The thesis will also show that Ray’s Ornithology, based on his religious belief and the policy and culture of the early Royal Society, eventually stripped birds of their emblematic meaning, focused on the method of describing birds, and carried out a classification of birds based on the “facts” he observed and analyzed.