Jordan, J. M. (Author)
In many accounts of the history of the earth sciences, geology is identified as beginning in the seventeenth century against a backdrop of religious superstition and ignorance. A leading figure in those histories was James Hutton (1726–1797) who is credited with formulating the idea of ‘deep time’ based on his own observations of the rock cycle punctuated by unconformities. In his writings, and in many later history accounts, the contributions of classical thinkers are largely ignored. Although several contemporary historians of geoscience have commented already on the modernity of classical thinkers, the purpose of this paper is to document that classical awareness of deep time was more pervasive than is generally acknowledged. This paper argues that geology was, all told, one of the most advanced sciences in classical antiquity and enjoys a remarkable conversance with its modern successor. Classical naturalists and philosophers made scientifically valid observations and interpretations of many geologic processes including volcanism, sedimentation, hydrology, tsunamis, and fossil beds. Consequently, classical naturalists and philosophers should be considered worthy antecedents of modern geologists.
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Article
Dean, Dennis R.;
(1975)
James Hutton on religion and geology: The unpublished preface to his Theory of the Earth (1788)
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Chapter
Carozzi, Albert V.;
(2000)
Les Manuscrits de Horace-Bénédict de Saussure: clé de sa personnalité et de sa véritable contribution à la géologie moderne
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Book
A. M. Celâl Şengör;
(2020)
Revising the Revisions: James Hutton’s Reputation among Geologists in the Late Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
(/isis/citation/CBB747677573/)
Article
Thomas Rossetter;
(2018)
Realism on the Rocks: Novel Success and James Hutton's Theory of the Earth
(/isis/citation/CBB758594733/)
Book
McIntyre, Donald B.;
McKirdy, Alan;
(2001)
James Hutton: The Founder of Modern Geology
(/isis/citation/CBB000470628/)
Article
Carozzi, Marguerite;
(2000)
H.-B. de Saussure: James Hutton's Obsession
(/isis/citation/CBB000101444/)
Article
Gregory F.W. Todd;
(2021)
The French foundations of Hutton's theory of the Earth, Part One: Hutton as a Student of Guillaume-François Rouelle
(/isis/citation/CBB648597760/)
Essay Review
Oldroyd, David;
(2003)
A Manichean View of the History of Geology
(/isis/citation/CBB000340485/)
Book
Newcomb, Sally;
(2009)
The World in a Crucible: Laboratory Practice and Geological Theory at the Beginning of Geology
(/isis/citation/CBB001021017/)
Article
García Cruz, Cándido Manuel;
(2013)
James Hutton (1726--1797) y el Mito del Eterno Retorno: Interpretación de la Tierra en el siglo XVIII
(/isis/citation/CBB001214080/)
Chapter
Carozzi, Marguerite;
(2000)
Hutton voit les Alpes à Travers les Yeux de H.-B. de Saussure
(/isis/citation/CBB000101445/)
Article
Leveson, David J.;
(1996)
What was James Hutton's methodology?
(/isis/citation/CBB000068119/)
Chapter
Rowland, Stephen M.;
(2002)
Mikhail Lomonosov's On the Strata of the Earth and a Comparison with the Writings of Buffon, Hutton, and Werner
(/isis/citation/CBB000201700/)
Article
Tom Furniss;
(2014)
James Hutton’s Geological Tours of Scotland: Romanticism, Literary Strategies, and the Scientific Quest
(/isis/citation/CBB886350845/)
Article
Gould, Stephen Jay;
(1982)
Hutton's purposeful view
(/isis/citation/CBB000022118/)
Article
McIntyre, Donald B.;
(1997)
James Hutton's Edinburgh: The historical, social, and political background
(/isis/citation/CBB000076595/)
Book
Dean, Dennis R.;
(1992)
James Hutton and the history of geology
(/isis/citation/CBB000042534/)
Article
Norwick, Stephen A.;
(2002)
Metaphors of Nature in James Hutton's Theory of the Earth with Proofs and Illustrations
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Book
Repcheck, Jack;
(2003)
The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton and the Discovery of Earth's Antiquity
(/isis/citation/CBB000320303/)
Chapter
Nicholas, C. J.;
Pearson, P. N.;
(2007)
Robert Jameson on the Isle of Arran, 1797--1799: In Search of Hutton's “Theory of the Earth”
(/isis/citation/CBB000951526/)
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