Article ID: CBB004207475

`Ancient Episteme' and the Nature of Fossils: A Correction of a Modern Scholarly Error (2016)

unapi

Beginning the nineteenth-century and continuing down to the present, many authors writing on the history of geology and paleontology have attributed the theory that fossils were inorganic formations produced within the earth, rather than by the deposition of living organisms, to the ancient Greeks and Romans. Some have even gone so far as to claim this was the consensus view in the classical period up through the Middle Ages. In fact, such a notion was entirely foreign to ancient and medieval thought and only appeared within the manifold of ‘Renaissance episteme,’ the characteristics of which have often been projected backwards by some historians onto earlier periods. This paper endeavors to correct this error, explain the development of the Renaissance view, describe certain ancient precedents thereof, and trace the history of the misinterpretation in the literature.

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Authors & Contributors
Gregory P. Dietl
Joseph H. Hartman
Edward P.F. Rose
Charles G.M. Paxton
Tom Sharpe
Volkan Sarıgül
Concepts
Fossils
Paleontology
Geology
Earth sciences
Natural history
Museums
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
17th century
20th century, early
Places
United States
Great Britain
Malta
England
Sicily
Boston (Massachusetts, U.S.)
Institutions
Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.)
Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin)
Università di Pavia
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