Fine Reading: The Biocentric View of the Microbial World

by Elio
 

'The Vitruvian Man' by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). Source

Anthropocentric:
      1. considering human beings as the most significant entity of the universe.
      2. interpreting or regarding the world in terms of human values and experiences.

How does anthropocentrism apply to microbiologists? In a current commentary in the new journal Gut Pathogens, Ramy Aziz reminds us that it shows up all over the place. Take the very term microbe, meaning small living thing. "Small," says who? Not the microbes. To them, other mi­crobes would be of "normal" size and we humans Rabe­laisian gargantuas. This wouldn't much matter if it stop­ped there, with our choice of words alone. Aziz points out that anthropocentrism in microbiology can have serious consequences. For instance, "pathogens" have been considered to be special group of microbes, separate from the rest. Nothing could be farther from the truth, and nothing could be more objectionable than to consider the human body to be anything but another habitat.
 

In recent years, it has been increasingly realized that pathogenic microbiology is merely another branch of microbial ecology. However, a gentle reminder in Aziz’ well-turned words is welcomed. A truly integrated view of the microbial world, or of the biological world in general, cannot be an­thro­pocentric but can only be, as Aziz says, biocentric.
 

 
 

 
 

Comments

[John Ireland]

Ah, how much we microbiology educators would love to take this approach to our beloved discipline but the realities of modern microbiology classes never allow it. Most people who take the introductory courses (which I teach at a community college) are motivated by a very anthropocentric goal (namely nursing or some other field of medicine/allied health) meaning they could care less about the broader nature of the field. I always start the semester with a quote by Steven Jay Gould to try and place them in the proper perspective.

"The most outstanding feature of life's history is that through 3.5 billion years this has remained, really, a bacterial planet. Most creatures are what they've always been: They're bacteria and they rule the world. And we need to be nice to them."

From: "Stephen Jay Gould" (Interview by Michael Krasny). Mother Jones (Jan.-Feb. 1997): 60-63. (c)1997