When Geologists Were Historians, 1665–1750

When Geologists Were Historians, 1665–1750
Author: Rhoda Rappaport
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2018-09-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1501729616

"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.

When Geologists Were Historians, 1665-1750

When Geologists Were Historians, 1665-1750
Author: Rhoda Rappaport
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 1997
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780801433863

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.

Rethinking Kant 5

Rethinking Kant 5
Author: Pablo Muchnik
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2018-12-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1527523853

The series Rethinking Kant, now in its fifth volume, has become a mirror of Kantian studies in North America. It gathers papers presented at the various study groups of the North American Kant Society, along with contributions from hosts, session chairs, and keynote speakers. Because of its broad and unique composition, it offers a sample of a whole generation of Kantian thought, ranging from recent PhD recipients, to up-and-coming young scholars, to some well-established and influential players in the field. Contributions are subjected to strenuous peer-review, and are, without exception, examples of the most innovative and cutting-edge research done in this area. As such, this collection will appeal to anyone interested in taking the pulse of contemporary Kantian scholarship and engaging in the humbling, but rewarding task of rethinking Kant.

The Earth Sciences in the Enlightenment

The Earth Sciences in the Enlightenment
Author: Kenneth L. Taylor
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2024-10-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1040245587

This volume is concerned with the geological sciences in the 18th century, with special emphasis on France and French scientists. A first focus is on the pioneering geologist Nicolas Desmarest, whose investigations in Auvergne and Italy (among other places) had important consequences in geological theory and practice. Desmarest emerges as a figure of intriguing complexity and refined methodological convictions, defying facile interpretation in terms of, for instance, a simple polarity between vulcanism and neptunism. Widening his inquiry beyond Desmarest, Professor Taylor also endeavors to recover key elements of the presuppositions and thought-patterns of Enlightenment geologists, and to discern how geological investigation worked during this formative period. In the era that modern geological science was beginning to take form, many of the participants are seen as struggling to define their scientific objectives and procedures by drawing from the competing frameworks of physique or natural philosophy, descriptive natural history, and antiquarian scholarship or developmental history. One of the articles (Reflections on Natural Laws in Eighteenth-Century Geology) appears here for the first time in English.

A Companion to Enlightenment Historiography

A Companion to Enlightenment Historiography
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 519
Release: 2013-06-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004251847

A Companion to Enlightenment Historiography provides a survey of the most important historians and historiographical debates in the long eighteenth century, examining these debates’ stylistic, philosophical and political significance. The chapters, many of which were specially commissioned for this volume, offer a mixture of accessible introduction and original interpretive argument; they will thus appeal both to the scholar of the period and the more general reader. Part I considers Gibbon, Hume, Robertson, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Herder and Vico. Part II explores wider themes of national and thematic context: English, Scottish, French and German Enlightenment historians are discussed, as are the concepts of historical progress, secularism, the origins of historicism and the deployments of Greek and Roman antiquity within 18th century historiography. Contributors are Robert Mankin, Simon Kow, Jeffrey Smitten, Rebecca Kingston, Síofra Pierse, Bertrand Binoche, Donald Phillip Verene, Ulrich Muhlack, David Allan, Noelle Gallagher, François-Emmanuël Boucher, Sandra Rudnick Luft, Sophie Bourgault, C. Akça Ataç, and Robert Sparling.

A Temperate Empire

A Temperate Empire
Author: Anya Zilberstein
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 0190206594

"A Temperate Empire explores the ways that colonists studied and tried to remake local climates in New England and Nova Scotia according to their plans for settlement and economic growth."--

What Have They Done to the Bible?

What Have They Done to the Bible?
Author: John Sandys-Wunsch
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2005
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780814650288

Why have so many scholars ceased to believe in a type of inspiration that distinguishes the Bible from every other book? Why is fundamentalism so unsatisfying to modern people? This history of biblical interpretation from 1500 to the present answers these questions by showing how biblical scholarship has developed under the influence of internal and external factors. In What Have They Done to the Bible John Sandys-Wunsch documents the changes that have taken place in biblical exegesis since 1500 and accounts for the major reasons for these changes. Answering the question of why fundamentalism is unsatisfying to modern people, Sandys-Wunsch maintains that this development was the result of occurrences both within and outside biblical interpretation. The internal" developments consisted of work on the textual tradition, biblical languages, and the recognition of wider problems such as consistency, cogency, and coherence within biblical documents. *External - factors were the development of secular society, tolerance, academic freedom, a perceived dichotomy between the Bible and science, and information about human culture in general, both past and present. He concludes that after the Renaissance it was the application of historical considerations to both the internal and external factors of the biblical tradition that was the main source of the modern approach to the Bible. The Rev. Dr. John Sandys-Wunsch, D.S.Litt., D.Phil., formerly a university professor and administrator in Canada and England, is a research fellow at the University of Victoria. "

Discovering Gilgamesh

Discovering Gilgamesh
Author: Vybarr Cregan-Reid
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2015-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526102382

In 1872, a young archaeologist at the British Museum made a tremendous discovery. While he was working his way through a Mesopotamian ‘slush pile’, George Smith, a self-taught expert in ancient languages, happened upon a Babylonian version of Noah’s Flood. His research suggested this ‘Deluge Tablet’ pre-dated the writing of Genesis by a millennium or more. Smith went on to translate what later became The Epic of Gilgamesh, perhaps the oldest and most complete work of literature from any culture. Against the backdrop of innovative readings of a range of paintings, novels, histories and photographs (by figures like Dickens, Eliot, James, Dyce, Turner, Macaulay and Carlyle), this book demonstrates the Gordian complexity of the Victorians’ relationship with history, while also seeking to highlight the Epic’s role in influencing models of time in late-Victorian geology. Discovering Gilgamesh will be of interest to readers, students and researchers in literary studies, Victorian studies, history, intellectual history, art history and archaeology.

Glossator: Practice and Theory of the Commentary

Glossator: Practice and Theory of the Commentary
Author: Josh Stanley
Publisher: Glossator
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2010
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1451599374

Volume 2 of the journal Glossator: Practice and Theory of the Commentary. On the Poems of J.H. Prynne. Edited by Ryan Dobran.Contents:RYAN DOBRAN, Introduction JOSH STANLEY, Back On Into The Way Home: "Charm Against Too Many Apples" [The White Stones, 1969];THOMAS ROEBUCK & MATTHEW SPERLING, "The Glacial Question, Unsolved": A Specimen Commentary on Lines 1-31 [The White Stones, 1969]ROBIN PURVES, A Commentary on J.H. Prynne's "Thoughts on the Esterh�zy Court Uniform" [The White Stones, 1969]REITHA PATTISON, J.H. Prynne's "The Corn Burned by Syrius" [The White Stones, 1969]KESTON SUTHERLAND, Hilarious absolute daybreak [Brass, 1971]MICHAEL STONE-RICHARDS, The time of the subject in the neurological field (I): A Commentary on J.H. Prynne's "Again in the Black Cloud" [Wound Response, 1974]JUSTIN KATKO, Relativistic Phytosophy: Towards a Commentary on "The Plant Time Manifold Transcripts" [Wound Response, 1974]JOHN WILKINSON, Heigh Ho: A Partial Gloss of Word Order [Word Order, 1989]Glossator publishes original commentaries, editions and translations of commentaries, and essays and articles relating to the theory and history of commentary, glossing, and marginalia. The journal aims to encourage the practice of commentary as a creative form of intellectual work and to provide a forum for dialogue and reflection on the past, present, and future of this ancient genre of writing. By aligning itself, not with any particular discipline, but with a particular mode of production, Glossator gives expression to the fact that praxis founds theory. GLOSSATOR.ORG