When Geologists Were Historians, 1665Ð1750 - Hardcover

Rappaport, Rhoda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080143386X ISBN 13: 9780801433863

Verlag: Cornell University Press, 1997

Inhaltsangabe

Book by Rappaport Rhoda

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Críticas:

"Rappaport offers a scholarly examination of a period prior to Hutton and Lyell, in which nature philosophers struggled to interpret Earth's history both in light of physical laws and according to recorded history and ancient myths.... When Geologists Were Historians is not a broad-brush overview but a serious, scholarly examination of the geological literature and correspondence of the period. Recommended particularly to libraries building strength in the history of science." "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 Oklahoma "Rappaport has provided a unique look at an important period of time with detailed, multicontinental scholarship.... Anyone who has a deep interest in how the science of geology really came into its own in the late 1600s and early 1700s should look no further than Rappaport's very detailed work." * GSA Today: Journal of the Geological Society of America *

Reseña del editor:

"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.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: Cornell University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1997
• ISBN 10: 080143386X
• ISBN 13: 9780801433863
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 322