Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past
History Matters

A philosophical examination of the deep past, and how paleontologists, archaeologists and geologists tell its story.

Adrian Currie (Author)

9781108730556, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 August 2019

75 pages, 1 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 0.6 cm, 0.16 kg

'In this brief but insightful work, Currie makes a compelling case for the validity of historical science. Currie is noted for his 'optimistic' analysis of the possibilities of historical science … This intriguing book deserves to be widely read by those interested in the nature of historical science.' Bruce S. Bennett, Metascience

Historical sciences like paleontology and archaeology have uncovered unimagined, remarkable and mysterious worlds in the deep past. How should we understand the success of these sciences? What is the relationship between knowledge and history? In Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past: History Matters, Adrian Currie examines recent paleontological work on the great changes that occurred during the Cretaceous period - the emergence of flowering plants, the splitting of the mega-continent Gondwana, and the eventual fall of the dinosaurs - to analyse the knowledge of historical scientists, and to reflect upon the nature of history. He argues that distinctively historical processes are 'peculiar': they have the capacity to generate their own highly specific dynamics and rules. This peculiarity, Currie argues, also explains the historian's interest in narratives and stories: the contingency, complexity and peculiarity of the past demands a narrative treatment. Overall, Currie argues that history matters for knowledge.

Introduction
1. History and evidence
2. The nature of the deep past
3. Historical explanation
Concluding discussion – what are sciences of the deep past about?

Subject Areas: Palaeontology [RBX], History of science [PDX], Philosophy of science [PDA], History: theory & methods [HBA]