Dead-Ends and New Directions

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-347
Author(s):  
Jean Francesco A.L. Gomes

Abstract The aim of this article is to investigate how Abraham Kuyper and some late neo-Calvinists have addressed the doctrine of creation in light of the challenges posed by evolutionary scientific theory. I argue that most neo-Calvinists today, particularly scholars from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), continue Kuyper’s legacy by holding the core principles of a creationist worldview. Yet, they have taken a new direction by explaining the natural history of the earth in evolutionary terms. In my analysis, Kuyper’s heirs at the VU today offer judicious parameters to guide Christians in conversation with evolutionary science, precisely because of their high appreciation of good science and awareness of the nonnegotiable elements that make up the orthodox Christian narrative.

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-136
Author(s):  
Valeriy SNAKIN

Anatolij Nikiforovich Tyuryukanov (1931-2001), Dr.Sci (Biol.), professor was a remarkable Russian natural scientist, who made a signifi contribution to soil science and the theory of the biosphere. Investigation of Tyuryukanov’s works shows both evolution of the author’s scientifi interests and development of natural history in Russia in 20th century. He formulated the biosphere natural history principle founded on a new fundamental category of sciences foundation in 20th century. Th principle is based on genetic soil science, biogeocenology, landscape geochemistry and main branches of the Earth biosphere and vitasphere study. Interesting and sometimes unexpected assertions of A.N. Tyuryukanovs provide food for thought about both further studies of nature, development of biosphere study and refl on the human and biosphere relationships.


1794 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hutton

Since reading the paper upon the theory of the earth, I have been employed in examining many parts of this country, in order to enquire into the natural history of granite. In this undertaking, I have succeeded beyond my most flattering expectations; and I am now to communicate to this Society the result of my observations.In the paper just referred to, it was maintained, from many different arguments, that all the solid strata of the earth had been consolidated by means of subterraneous heat, softening the hard materials of those bodies; and that in many places, those consolidated strata had been broken and invaded by huge masses of fluid matter similar to lava, but, for the most part, perfectly distinguishable from it. Granite also was considered there as a body which had been certainly consolidated by heat; and which had, at least in some parts, been in the state of perfect fusion, and certain specimens were produced, from which I drew an argument in support of this conclusion.


1695 ◽  
Vol 19 (217) ◽  
pp. 115-124

V. An account of books. I. An essay toward a natural history of the earth, and terrestrial bodies, especially minerals: As also of the sea, rivers, and springs. With an account of the universal deluge, and of the effects that it had upon the earth. By John Woodward, M. D. Professor of Physick in Gresham College, and Fellow of the Royal Society. Printed for Ric. Wilkin at the King's Head in St. Paul's Church-yard. 1695. Octavo. 2. An account of a paper, entituled, archibaldi pitcarnii, M. D. dissertatio de Febribus, &c. The Author of this Book having with great Industry, and no less Success, made Enquiry into many considerable Parts of Nature, hath thought fit here to set forth an Account of several of his Observations, and of certain Conclusions which he hath drawn from them, whereof many are indeed of great weight and moment, but all in a compendious manner, as intending this Discourse only as a Prœlude to one-much larger, and to comply with the Importunities of some Persons of Worth, who .requested a brief Account of these things from him, for their present Satisfaction, until his Affairs should permit the compleating of his Greater Work, which he promiseth, with a further Proof both of these, and of others not yet proposed.


1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Taylor

A conceptual and methodological tension can be discerned among Enlightenment advocates of earth science, as regards extraterrestrial events and processes. True to the fundamental traditions of Theories of the Earth, many scientific thinkers exhibited clear recognition of the Earth's planetary status, as a member of a celestial family. To some this legitimated integration of a geological perspective into that of cosmology and astronomy. In extreme instances it even entailed an ideal of establishing earth science by deduction from principles of celestial mechanics. However, this integrative aspect of Theories of the Earth ran counter to another important element in the geological thinking of this era, one which asserted the overriding value of empirical investigation. In the minds of many empirical-minded champions of a natural history of the Earth, a true geology could only be built up through inductive discovery focussed exclusively on accessible terrestrial phenomena. Sometimes explicitly, often by merely tacit exclusion of extraterrestrial considerations, much geological investigation before 1800 tended to identify the integrity of the emerging science with the distinctively Earth-bound nature of the objects of study. The ideal of an autonomous geological science thus tended to be intertwined with a concept of terrestrial autonomy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
NATHAN G. ALEXANDER

This article examines a previously unexplored chapter in the history of atheism: its close links with nineteenth-century racial anthropology. These links are apparent especially in many atheists’ interest in polygenesis, the theory that human races had separate origins, in contrast to the orthodox Christian doctrine of monogenesis that said all races descended from Adam and Eve. The article's focus is Charles Bradlaugh (1833–91), arguably the most important British atheist of the era, representing the radical working-class, secularist movement that emerged in mid-nineteenth-century Britain. The article charts the ways Bradlaugh and other atheists used the research on polygenesis from leading scientific racists in both Britain and the United States to critique Christianity. It also explores some of the contradictions of this use, namely the ways polygenesis clashed with Darwinism and a longer chronology of the age of the Earth. Finally, the article explores how polygenist ideas informed Bradlaugh's imperial worldview and notes that, despite his acceptance of polygenesis, Bradlaugh was a supporter of the rights of nonwhites in the British Empire, particularly in India.


2014 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 735-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Mundy

As we consider music's role in defining races, cultures, and species, musicologists may benefit from examining more closely the history of conceptions of musical style. That history offers an opportunity to reassess the question of how and how much one of the core tools of music scholarship—the recognition and categorization of musical style—reflects a historical tradition of categorizing culture as a form of essential, biologized difference. This exercise seems particularly relevant in the present moment, when scholarly style categories converge with a renewed interest in evolutionary science. Tracing notions of style from the days of Guido Adler to the present, I argue that classifications of musical style have offered a way for music scholars to explore changing concepts of human difference. By asking what it means to identify a musical style, it is possible to engage more sensitively with music's power to classify human cultures, define human beings, and demarcate the perimeter of the humanities.


Author(s):  
Andrew P Jephcoat ◽  
M. Ali Bouhifd ◽  
Don Porcelli

The present state of the Earth evolved from energetic events that were determined early in the history of the Solar System. A key process in reconciling this state and the observable mantle composition with models of the original formation relies on understanding the planetary processing that has taken place over the past 4.5 Ga. Planetary size plays a key role and ultimately determines the pressure and temperature conditions at which the materials of the early solar nebular segregated. We summarize recent developments with the laser-heated diamond anvil cell that have made possible extension of the conventional pressure limit for partitioning experiments as well as the study of volatile trace elements. In particular, we discuss liquid–liquid, metal–silicate (M–Sil) partitioning results for several elements in a synthetic chondritic mixture, spanning a wide range of atomic number—helium to iodine. We examine the role of the core as a possible host of both siderophile and trace elements and the implications that early segregation processes at deep magma ocean conditions have for current mantle signatures, both compositional and isotopic. The results provide some of the first experimental evidence that the core is the obvious replacement for the long-sought, deep mantle reservoir. If so, they also indicate the need to understand the detailed nature and scale of core–mantle exchange processes, from atomic to macroscopic, throughout the age of the Earth to the present day.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Harry F. Recher

Good conservation is sound management based on good science and a thorough understanding of the natural history of the organisms and systems being managed. Even doing nothing, as some advocate for wilderness, is a management decision and one which should have its foundations in science and natural history. This idea that conservation management should have a strong scientific and natural history basis is a recurrent theme of Duffy and Kraus (2008) in their analysis of conservation management in Hawaii. It is a theme that I cannot disagree with, nor can I disagree with Duffy and Kraus when they argue that natural history knowledge is not appreciated and that there is a failure to include scientific knowledge in management decisions. I don?t have to live and work in Hawaii to reach this view; not much is different in Australia.


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