| Description |
xii, 278 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Series |
Science and its conceptual foundations |
|
Science and its conceptual foundations.
|
| Contents |
Machine derived contents note: List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- 1. The Conceptual Foundations of Geology -- The aims of geology: Causal and historical -- The methods of geology -- The theories of geology -- The aims of history of science -- 2. Mineralogy and Cosmogony in the Late Seventeenth Century -- Mineralogical "common sense" in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries -- Minerals and basic ontologies -- Chemical theories of mineralogy -- Mechanical theories of mineralogy -- Histories of the earth -- The evidence -- Physical cosmogonies -- Chemical cosmogonies -- 3. The Becher-Stahl School of Mineralogy and Cosmogony, 1700-1780 -- The institutional support for chemical mineralogy -- Advances in mineralogy -- The rocks -- The ocean -- The differentiation of the earths -- The causes of consolidation -- Eighteenth-century chemical cosmogonies -- Eighteenth-century physical cosmogonies -- 4. The Botanical Model Rejected -- The botanical model -- The botanical model applied -- The botanical model extended -- The botanical model rejected -- Identification versus classification -- The taxonomy of rocks and fossils -- Classification and the stages of scientific development -- 5. Werner and the "School of Freiberg" -- Werner's account of earth history -- Formations: Time is of the essence -- The Wernerian radiation -- 6. The Huttonian Alternative -- The Huttonian theory of the earth -- The immediate reaction -- The background to Hutton's theory -- Later modifications of Hutton's theory of consolidation -- Hutton's impact on geology -- 7. Historical Geology -- Formations: The key concept of historical geology -- The correlation of formations -- Reconstructing the earth's history -- The Wernerian radiation: A pre-Lyellian synthesis -- 8. Wernerian Causal Geology -- Wernerian theories of elevation -- Élie de Beaumont's synthesis -- 9. Lyell's Geological Logic -- Lyell and Hutton -- The vera causa principle and uniformitarian geology -- Lyell's theory of the earth -- Lyell's vera causa theory of climatic change -- Lyell's theory of elevation -- Lyell's impact -- 10. Postscript -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index |
| Analysis |
Earth sciences, ca 1650-1830 |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Bibliography: pages 236-268 |
| Subject |
Earth sciences -- History.
|
| LC no. |
86030783 |
| ISBN |
0226469506 |
|
