The Structure of Geology is an account of the structure of geological knowledge that examines the complex inferential context in which statements about the past are derived and tested. Emphasized is the dependence of virtually all geological inferences upon an unquestioned background of contemporary physical theory. A theory is proposed in which the concept of the signal, so familiar in contemporary physics, is introduced in an attempt to solve some long-standing difficulties concerning geologic time. The widely held view that geology has recently passed through a scientific revolution is carefully examined and the opinion in offered that the dramatic change in earth science during the past twenty years, although in many ways like the scientific revolutions described by Thomas Kuhn, has unique features that grow out of the historical character of geology. The relationship between paleontology and evolutionary theory is also considered.
Author(s): David B. Kitts
Publisher: Southern Methodist University Press
Year: 1977
Language: English
Pages: 180
City: Dallas
Tags: philosophy of geology, geology, history of science, philosophy of science
Title Page
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Ch. 1 - Historical Explanation in Geology
Ch. 2 - Certainty and Uncertainty in Geology
Ch. 3 - The Theory of Geology
Ch. 4 - Physical Theory and Geological Knowledge
Ch. 5 - Grove Karl Gilbert and the Concept of "Hypothesis" in Late Nineteenth-Century Geology
Ch. 6 - Continental Drift and Scientific Revolution
Ch. 7 - Geologic Time
Ch. 8 - Paleontology and Evolutionary Theory
Notes
Index