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RE: Lions and Dinos and Science. Oh, My! (Part 4 - Pre-Darwinian Evolution and Conclusion)
Another amazing piece! Do you think that the idea of the "dragon" has some correlation to the possibility that many many centuries ago someone had discovered dinosaur bones while mining or something? I was personally wondering where the history of the "dragon" had come from. I know it's not really relevant to this article, but I feel I can have an intelligent conversation with you on this and satisfy my need to intellectual growth as well as see what ideas you may have on that. I enjoy all of your work and enjoy learning something new as frequently as possible.
This series you have done was awesome man! Great work!
That's actually one of the main hypotheses I've heard to explain the ubiquity of dragons across cultures. Similar to rhino bones potentially giving rise to unicorns and mixed fossils inspiring griffins, chimera, and other mythical beasts, in fact. The concept of extinction has fallen in and out of popularity over the years in the west prior to the rise of naturalism.
Particularly once Christianity and other Abrahamic faiths had spread, Aristotle's Hylomorphism - which includes the concept of animal archetypes, the idea that species are fixed and eternal, became entrenched. Since, the thinking was, 'if god is perfect, how could he create imperfection, and if a species dies out it means that it was not perfectly designed for its environment' the only logical solution was that these were not fossils by the bones of fierce beasts in the untamed wilderness.
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