IMPEDIMENTS TO GEOHISTORICAL THINKING IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

The development of geohistorical thinking is rightly regarded as fundamental to the establishment of modern geological science. This being so, there is a temptation to think of geohistory as a self-evidently good idea that only needed recognition and proper formulation in order for geology to come of age. This paper offers a different perspective, arguing that right through most of the eighteenth century many naturalists and natural philosophers considered history to be essentially irrelevant to efforts at comprehension of nature. There were reasons seated in the deep structure of early-modern thinking that served to oppose the pertinence of history to a science of the earth. Chief among these reasons was the ancient tradition according to which a genuine science of nature relies above all on explanation in terms of universal principles. Those who began to frame geohistorical science had to overcome a common conviction that no amount of historical discussion of natural phenomena could count as a satisfactory explanation.