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GEOREF RECORD

Genesis and interpretation of fossils according to classical science; from Renaissance to Enlightenment

Jean Gaudant and Genevieve Bouillet
La genese et l'interpretation des "fossiles" dans la science classique; de la Renaissance aux Lumieres
Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France (September 2000) 171 (5): 587-601

Abstract

The main interpretations of fossils from the XVIth to the XVIIIth century are reviewed. They proceed from two philosophical conceptions that were successful at that time: Aristotelism and Neoplatonicism, that were both making reference to occult influences exerted on living beings and mineral world by planets and, more generally, by the whole universe. The acceptance of the organic origin of fossils, near the end of the XVIIth century, followed an obvious weakening of both schools. Consequently, at the beginning of the XVIIIth century, the diluvialist doctrine appeared as being reinvigorated. Similarly, it would be illusive to believe that modern conceptions relative to fossils are totally devoid of any, even implicit, philosophical influence.


ISSN: 0037-9409
EISSN: 1777-5817
Serial Title: Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France
Serial Volume: 171
Serial Issue: 5
Title: La genese et l'interpretation des "fossiles" dans la science classique; de la Renaissance aux Lumieres
Translated Title: Genesis and interpretation of fossils according to classical science; from Renaissance to Enlightenment
Affiliation: 17 rue de Docteur Magnan, Paris, France
Pages: 587-601
Published: 200009
Text Language: French
Summary Language: English
Publisher: Societe Geologique de France, Paris, France
References: 49
Accession Number: 2001-001919
Categories: General paleontology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus.
Country of Publication: France
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 200101
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