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The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology
"It is not often that a work can literally rewrite a person's view of a subject. And this is exactly what Rudwick's book should do for many paleontologists' view of the history of their own field."—Stephen J. Gould, Paleobotany and Palynology
"Rudwick has not merely written the first book-length history of palaeontology in the English language; he has written a very intelligent one. . . . His accounts of sources are rounded and organic: he treats the structure of arguments as Cuvier handled fossil bones."—Roy S. Porter, History of Science
"Rudwick has not merely written the first book-length history of palaeontology in the English language; he has written a very intelligent one. . . . His accounts of sources are rounded and organic: he treats the structure of arguments as Cuvier handled fossil bones."—Roy S. Porter, History of Science
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 1985
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About the author
Martin J.S. Rudwick
10 books10 followersMartin John Spencer Rudwick is a British geologist, historian, and academic. He is an emeritus professor of History at the University of California, San Diego and an affiliated research scholar at Cambridge University's Department of History and Philosophy of Science.
His principal field of study is the history of the earth sciences; his work has been described as the "definitive histories of the pre-Darwinian earth sciences".
Rudwick was awarded the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal in 1988. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He was the recipient of the 2007 George Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society.
His principal field of study is the history of the earth sciences; his work has been described as the "definitive histories of the pre-Darwinian earth sciences".
Rudwick was awarded the Sue Tyler Friedman Medal in 1988. In 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). He was the recipient of the 2007 George Sarton Medal from the History of Science Society.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 4, 2015
The author states in the Preface that this book is not intended as a complete history of palaeontology, but as a survey of several important stages (episodes) in its development; he also emphasizes that he does not mean "episodes" to be taken in the discontinuous, "incommensurable" sense of Foucault (or Kuhn's paradigms). The book is not concerned, as one might expect, with the discovery of particular fossils -- collecting activity by scientists like Cope and Marsh is only mentioned in passing -- but with the development of interpretations of the fossil evidence, that is of "the meaning of fossils."
What I found most interesting in Rudwick's account is that he does not present the materials, as the older historiiography of science tends to do, in terms of "heros" and "villains", or assume that earlier theories can be judged in terms of how close they come to the currently received theories; he spends much of his time discussing the very real scientific problems with the progressive theories, rather than simply assuming all opposition came from religious obscurantism and dogma. I would be the last person to deny the negative influence of religion on science, and in fact I think he may underestimate these factors, but it is certainly a step forward to recognize that each advance in one area of science had to meet objections from what was believed to be the case in other areas; this is after all why progress in one field of science can lead to progress in other fields.
The first "episode" discussed begins with Conrad Gessner, and the first accurate illustrations of fossils and attempt to classify them. He makes the interesting point that these beginnings of palaeontology were made possible by the new realistic art techniques of the Renaissance, and by the technical progress in printing, first woodcuts and then copper engraving. He also emphasizes the difficulties of separating organic and inorganic "fossils" (the word then still had its etymological meaning of "things dug up") and the competing explanations of Neoplatonic and Aristotelian theories of their origins.
The second "episode" begins with Nicolaus Steno, and his theories of stratified sediments, which allowed for the recognition of the organic origins of more and more fossils. He discusses a number of very speculative theories of the development of the earth, largely based on Cartesian models, which also contributed to make the organic explanation seem plausible. He makes the point that for the scientists, the "flood" was the only natural explanation available, and that they interpreted it in a far from literal Biblical manner. (He contends that arguments derived explicitly from Scriptural interpretation were largely limited to England.)
The third "episode" centers on Cuvier, and the theory of extinctions. Here he explains very well that Cuvier's opposition to "transformational" theories like Lamarck's was solidly grounded in science, was less based on "fixity of species" than on the existence of species as real units, and was a defense of the (radical) idea that species could become extinct, while on the "transformational" view, species were only apparent, and the animal kingdom was a unit with unlimited plasticity, and thus no groups ever really became extinct, they just changed to whatever came after (and it was the "transformationalists" who were basically in accord with theology on this point). It seems from his description that the apparent similarities of "transformation" to evolution are only superficial, and that the real difference between Darwin and Lamarck was not just on mechanisms but that they had totally different ideas of what evolution itself was -- and Darwinism is actually more closely related to the anti-transformationalists. (Darwin's book was after all on the origin of Species.) Rudwick traces the development of Cuvier's ideas into a complete theory, based on periodic "revolutions" in the environment causing episodes of mass extinction, which was based on evidence rather than speculation.
In the fourth "episode" this new theoretical paradigm is challenged by Charles Lyell's resuscitation of Huttonian "uniformitarianism" against the idea of sudden "revolutions". He distinguishes Lyell's emphasis on using existing causes and gradualism from his insistence on a steady-state theory of the earth -- the first eventually won over most geologists, but the second was opposed for good reasons by people like Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison. He discusses how the peicemeal view of extinctions and replacements, supported by new discoveries, had the effect of making the problem of the origin of new species much more acute.
The fifth and last "episode" he discusses is of course Darwin and the theory of evolution by natural selection. Here again, he is very good in that he explains the scientific, not religious, objections to Darwin's theory, which was not at first supported by much evidence, particularly in palaeontology. It's usually assumed that this provided the strongest argument for it, but actually -- although it did support the idea of evolution in general -- at first it seemed to be the strongest evidence against the mechanism of natural selection. Huxley was one of very few palaeontologist to support Darwin on this. Later, evidence did of course accumulate -- only to have Darwinism seem to be refuted by Kelvin's theories on the age of the Earth. This is the point at which the book ends.
What I found most interesting in Rudwick's account is that he does not present the materials, as the older historiiography of science tends to do, in terms of "heros" and "villains", or assume that earlier theories can be judged in terms of how close they come to the currently received theories; he spends much of his time discussing the very real scientific problems with the progressive theories, rather than simply assuming all opposition came from religious obscurantism and dogma. I would be the last person to deny the negative influence of religion on science, and in fact I think he may underestimate these factors, but it is certainly a step forward to recognize that each advance in one area of science had to meet objections from what was believed to be the case in other areas; this is after all why progress in one field of science can lead to progress in other fields.
The first "episode" discussed begins with Conrad Gessner, and the first accurate illustrations of fossils and attempt to classify them. He makes the interesting point that these beginnings of palaeontology were made possible by the new realistic art techniques of the Renaissance, and by the technical progress in printing, first woodcuts and then copper engraving. He also emphasizes the difficulties of separating organic and inorganic "fossils" (the word then still had its etymological meaning of "things dug up") and the competing explanations of Neoplatonic and Aristotelian theories of their origins.
The second "episode" begins with Nicolaus Steno, and his theories of stratified sediments, which allowed for the recognition of the organic origins of more and more fossils. He discusses a number of very speculative theories of the development of the earth, largely based on Cartesian models, which also contributed to make the organic explanation seem plausible. He makes the point that for the scientists, the "flood" was the only natural explanation available, and that they interpreted it in a far from literal Biblical manner. (He contends that arguments derived explicitly from Scriptural interpretation were largely limited to England.)
The third "episode" centers on Cuvier, and the theory of extinctions. Here he explains very well that Cuvier's opposition to "transformational" theories like Lamarck's was solidly grounded in science, was less based on "fixity of species" than on the existence of species as real units, and was a defense of the (radical) idea that species could become extinct, while on the "transformational" view, species were only apparent, and the animal kingdom was a unit with unlimited plasticity, and thus no groups ever really became extinct, they just changed to whatever came after (and it was the "transformationalists" who were basically in accord with theology on this point). It seems from his description that the apparent similarities of "transformation" to evolution are only superficial, and that the real difference between Darwin and Lamarck was not just on mechanisms but that they had totally different ideas of what evolution itself was -- and Darwinism is actually more closely related to the anti-transformationalists. (Darwin's book was after all on the origin of Species.) Rudwick traces the development of Cuvier's ideas into a complete theory, based on periodic "revolutions" in the environment causing episodes of mass extinction, which was based on evidence rather than speculation.
In the fourth "episode" this new theoretical paradigm is challenged by Charles Lyell's resuscitation of Huttonian "uniformitarianism" against the idea of sudden "revolutions". He distinguishes Lyell's emphasis on using existing causes and gradualism from his insistence on a steady-state theory of the earth -- the first eventually won over most geologists, but the second was opposed for good reasons by people like Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison. He discusses how the peicemeal view of extinctions and replacements, supported by new discoveries, had the effect of making the problem of the origin of new species much more acute.
The fifth and last "episode" he discusses is of course Darwin and the theory of evolution by natural selection. Here again, he is very good in that he explains the scientific, not religious, objections to Darwin's theory, which was not at first supported by much evidence, particularly in palaeontology. It's usually assumed that this provided the strongest argument for it, but actually -- although it did support the idea of evolution in general -- at first it seemed to be the strongest evidence against the mechanism of natural selection. Huxley was one of very few palaeontologist to support Darwin on this. Later, evidence did of course accumulate -- only to have Darwinism seem to be refuted by Kelvin's theories on the age of the Earth. This is the point at which the book ends.
December 21, 2024
Definitely not for the casual reader. A history of paleontology from about the Renaissance until just after Darwin publishes "Origin". Interested to see how the ideas of fossils changed, and how many of our ideas of how people thought about them in the past is pretty simplistic, and when put into the broader framework of scientific thought at the time, it becomes much more complex. If you're a paleontologist and/or interested in the history of science, I recommend it, but it's not a fast read and not for the gen. pop.
April 19, 2025
Book 14 of 2025: The Meaning of Fossils: Episodes in the History of Palaeontology (2nd ed) by Martin J.S. Rudwick (1976, University of Chicago Press, 287 p.)
An excellent treatment of the debrief and importance of paleontology from. The mix-1500s to the late 1800s. Rudwick deals with 5 "episodes" in paleo as it developed into a professional science:
- The origin of fossils,
- use of fossils to construct a chronology of earth history,
- extinction,
- uniformitarianism, and
- evolution.
This is a really good read for anyone interested in science history and paleo. I especially liked that Rudwick dealt with the subject matter in historical context, rather than "poo-pooing" the historical figures using a modern viewpoint.
This book was recommended to me by Sr. Ralph Stearly, professor emeritus of geology at Calvin University. It's sat on my shelf for more than 15 years before I picked it up recently.
Highly recommended.
An excellent treatment of the debrief and importance of paleontology from. The mix-1500s to the late 1800s. Rudwick deals with 5 "episodes" in paleo as it developed into a professional science:
- The origin of fossils,
- use of fossils to construct a chronology of earth history,
- extinction,
- uniformitarianism, and
- evolution.
This is a really good read for anyone interested in science history and paleo. I especially liked that Rudwick dealt with the subject matter in historical context, rather than "poo-pooing" the historical figures using a modern viewpoint.
This book was recommended to me by Sr. Ralph Stearly, professor emeritus of geology at Calvin University. It's sat on my shelf for more than 15 years before I picked it up recently.
Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews