The Making of Geology
Earth Science in Britain 1660–1815

This book presents a detailed account of how the discipline of geology developed between the mid-seventeenth century and the early nineteenth century.

Roy Porter (Author)

9780521081283, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 18 September 2008

308 pages
21.4 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.3 kg

Between the mid-seventeenth century and the early nineteenth century there developed in Britain a range of empirical and increasingly secular sciences concerned with the earth. This book presents a detailed account of how this development led to the creation of a complex socio-intellectual fabric of methods, ambitions, facts and ideas which took on the nature of a distinctive, self-sustaining discipline: 'geology'. During this period the criteria for a proper science of the earth were continually reassessed and the earth as an object of science was radically reinterpreted. In his account of this transformation, Dr Porter treats science as an integral but distinct part of the spectrum of man's intellectual and social activities. His account thus illuminates the nature of science and scientific knowledge as a dynamic intellectual, social and cultural enterprise. The book will be of interest not only to historians and philosophers of science but also to social historians and geologists.

Introduction
1. Orientations: c. 1660– 1710
2. The natural history of the Earth
3. The re-creation of the Earth
4. A deepening base: c. 1710–1775
5. Continuity and change
6. Changing social formations: c.. 1775–1815
7. A reformation of knowledge
8. The constitution of geology
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]