TO INTERPRET THE EARTH: STAN SCHUMM'S GEOPHILOSOPHY

Grove Karl Gilbert (1843-1918) once observed, “…whoever in publishing the result of a scientific inquiry sets forth at the same time the process by which it was attained, contributes doubly to the cause of science.” He added (Gilbert, 1886, The Inculcation of Scientific Method by Example, p. 288), “The investigator becomes an educator when in giving his work to the world he describes the route by which his end was reached.” Stanley A. Schumm contributed much valuable scientific work to the world, including a number of the fundamental concepts for modern geomorphology, but he also wrote extensively on the philosophical and methodological issues related to that work. His 1991 book To interpret the Earth: Ten Ways to be Wrong builds upon a 1985 paper, “Extrapolation and Explanation in Geomorphology: Seven Reasons for Geologic Uncertainty”, published in Transactions, Japanese Geomorphological Union. Following in the footsteps of G.K. Gilbert, T.C. Chamberlin, William Morris Davis, Douglas Johnson, and J. Hoover Mackin, Schumm in his 1991 book sought to rectify the general condition that, “…geologists tend to go about their scientific endeavors without giving much thought to the manner in which they proceed” (Schumm, 1991, p. 2). To, “…question and understand very common ideas that all of us use everyday without thinking about them…” is the main concern of philosophy (Thomas Nagel, 1987, What Does it all Mean?). Schumm’s philosophy holds that extrapolations in geology largely derive from (1) a concept of geological uniformity (actualism), and (2) a specialized use of analogical reasoning. Schumm’s geophilosophical writings mainly deal with the complexity of geological problems and with the many pitfalls that can arise along the path toward what is today commonly presumed to be predictive understanding. Scientific accomplishments in Stanley Schumm’s geophilosophy are more appropriately based on an approach to problems rather than on specific scientific methods. That approach is no better exemplified than in the scientific work of Stanley A. Schumm.