Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past

Elements in the Philosophy of Science

by Adrian Currie

Historical sciences like paleontology and archaeology have uncovered unimagined, remarkable and mysterious worlds in the deep past. How should we understand the success of these sciences? What is the relationship between knowledge and history? In Scientific Knowledge and the Deep Past: History Matters, Adrian Currie examines recent paleontological work on the great changes that occurred during the Cretaceous period - the emergence of flowering plants, the splitting of the mega-continent Gondwana, and the eventual fall of the dinosaurs - to analyse the knowledge of historical scientists, and to reflect upon the nature of history. He argues that distinctively historical processes are 'peculiar': they have the capacity to generate their own highly specific dynamics and rules. This peculiarity, Currie argues, also explains the historian's interest in narratives and stories: the contingency, complexity and peculiarity of the past demands a narrative treatment. Overall, Currie argues that history matters for knowledge.

Genres: Philosophy

75 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2019

About the author

I'm currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology at Exeter. I'm interested in scientific method: how do scientists generate knowledge and why does it work? I don't think there's a particularly interesting general answer to this question. After all, scientists are a motley, opportunist bunch. They utilize a wide variety of methods and techniques in order to exploit varying lines of evidence towards a variety of different aims. Much of the philosophical action is local. This doesn't mean that us philosophers of science can't say anything general about knowledge, knowledge-generation, or the world. Rather, it means that such claims are best constructed in a piecemeal fashion. Much of my research focuses on the 'historical' sciences: paleontology, archaeology, geology and so forth. I argue that both philosophers and methodologically reflective scientists have underestimated the epistemic resources available for uncovering the deep past, and have missed the power of such sciences. Instead, I provide an expansive account of those resources: we should be optimists about our capacity to uncover much about the deep past.

My research isn't restricted to the historical sciences. I'm interested in science in general, particularly the relationship between different epistemic practices like experiments and simulations. I've also investigated the 'comparative method': how biologists exploit ancestral relations and similarities in environment to inform their studies. I enjoy reflecting on philosophical method, particularly the use of case studies in the philosophy of science, truth-telling in philosophical pedagogy and method in historiography. I also touch upon how the structure of scientific communities - what counts as good evidence, publications standards, and so forth - shape how research develops. I'm in the early stages of writing a book exploring the idea that the byproducts of scientific investigations are typically where their value lies. I also have work on the aesthetic and scientific aspects of music. I love collaborating.

I'm one of the founders of, and a regular contributor to, Extinct, a blog covering the intersection between philosophy and paleontology.

I grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand and have studied and taught at Victoria University of Wellington, Australian National University, the University of Sydney, the University of Calgary, Cambridge and Exeter(my current abode). I enjoy tramping (in New Zealand), bushwalking (in Australia), hiking (in North America) and rambling (in the UK) - but don't for goshsakes ask me to navigate.

Email me on a.currie [at] exeter [dot] ac [dot] uk

Reviews

[Vipul M-D]

A more naturalistic take on the (messy?) philosophy of historiography. To me, it seems mostly a nonlinear dynamics-inspired account, which means Currie will have to confront some of the same problems that climate modelling faces. Nevertheless I found it brilliantly helpful for clarifying the debates in historiography.