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When Geologists Were Historians, 1665-1750 (Hardcover, New)
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When Geologists Were Historians, 1665-1750 (Hardcover, New)
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Total price: R2,021
Discovery Miles: 20 210
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"An essential perspective for those seeking a serious introduction
to early geological science and a fundamental point of departure
for future research. . . . No other book has this scope and
conceptual focus." Kenneth L. Taylor, University of OklahomaIn the
years between 1665 and 1750, geology was a new kind of science,
combining physical law with historical process. Rhoda Rappaport
explains its novelty and provides a transnational account of the
development of geological thinking. She begins with the
establishment of formal institutions of international exchange,
including the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of
London and the Journal des savants in Paris, and shows how new
media fostered increasing communication among scientists,
particularly in England, France, and Italy. Early geological
thinking was thoroughly integrated with epistemology, historical
and biblical scholarship, natural philosophy, and natural history.
Ancient written documents supplemented what was called "physical
conjecture," providing human witnesses to past events. How to
combine elements of law, empirical observations, and texts posed
serious problems in debates about the biblical flood, which
Rappaport presents as a prime example of a well-attested historical
event. Buffon argued forcefully that geology should be wholly a
physical science and that historical texts were irrelevant to the
reconstruction of physical processes. Rappaport explains how his
contemporaries responded to this novel proposal and how Buffon
heralded the end of an era."
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