All ideas have a history, no matter how inevitable and well-entrenched they may seem to us today. The later Enlightenment was a heady time when people were exploring new conceptions of nature, humanity, and the self. Andrea Wulf is a writer of narrative histories, examining the origins of ideas through the lives of the people who explored them. In this episode we discuss three of her books: <a href= "https://andreawulf.com/2015/01/15/about-the-invention-of-nature/">The Invention of Nature</a>, about Alexander von Humboldt and environmentalism; <a href= "https://andreawulf.com/2022/01/05/about-magnificent-rebels/">Magnificent Rebels</a>, about the Jena circle of Romantics including Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, and others; and most recently <a href= "https://andreawulf.com/2025/11/19/about-the-traveller/">The Traveller</a>, about George Forster, an early naturalist, ethnographer, and champion of human equality. Blog post with transcript: <a href= "https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/08/356-andrea-wulf-on-enlightenment-nature-romanticism-and-modernity/"> https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/08/356-andrea-wulf-on-enlightenment-nature-romanticism-and-modernity/</a> Support Mindscape on <a href= "https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Patreon</a>. Andrea Wulf was born in India, raised in Germany, and studied design history at the Royal College of Art, London. She is the author of seven books. She is a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The Invention of Nature won multiple prizes, including the Royal Society science book prize and the LA Times book prize. <ul> <li><a href="https://andreawulf.com/">Web site</a></li> <li><a href= "https://www.amazon.com/stores/Andrea-Wulf/author/B001HOE9U0?ccs_id=d24d6e84-c228-44fb-90df-a4c95d0ece22"> Amazon author page</a></li> <li><a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Wulf">Wikipedia</a></li> </ul>

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356 | Andrea Wulf on Enlightenment, Nature, Romanticism, and Modernity

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

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