By surrounding himself with the work of his own hands—technology, such as alarm clocks and artificial lights—modern man has become confused. He has lost sight of the distinction between art (techne) and nature (physis). More precisely, man no longer understands nature as it presents itself to him.

The antidote to this modern confusion, according to author Erazim Kohak, is not to abandon technology, but rather to recognize how all technology points toward, and is predicated on, a pre-existing natural order. This natural order is both moral and discernible by carefully observing the world. (Yes, David Hume would be dismayed at Kohak for rejecting his now-popular "is-ought" distinction.)

But what, then, is man’s particular place in nature? If man is special, then what justifies this special place in nature? This week, we begin the second section of Erazim Kohak’s book The Embers and the Stars: a philosophical inquiry into the moral sense of nature (University of Chicago Press, 1984). The first part of this section is titled A Human's Place in Nature.