Rock, Bone, and Ruin

An Optimist's Guide to the Historical Sciences

Adrian Currie (Research Associate, University of Cambridge)

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English

MIT Press
21 May 2024

Archaeological methodology & techniques; History of science; Palaeontology

Series: Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology

"An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of ""methodologically omnivorous"" geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover truths about the deep past.

An argument that we should be optimistic about the capacity of ""methodologically omnivorous"" geologists, paleontologists, and archaeologists to uncover truths about the deep past.

The ""historical sciences""-geology, paleontology, and archaeology-have made extraordinary progress in advancing our understanding of the deep past. How has this been possible, given that the evidence they have to work with offers mere traces of the past? In Rock, Bone, and Ruin, Adrian Currie explains that these scientists are ""methodological omnivores,"" with a variety of strategies and techniques at their disposal, and that this gives us every reason to be optimistic about their capacity to uncover truths about prehistory. Creative and opportunistic paleontologists, for example, discovered and described a new species of prehistoric duck-billed platypus from a single fossilized tooth. Examining the complex reasoning processes of historical science, Currie also considers philosophical and scientific reflection on the relationship between past and present, the nature of evidence, contingency, and scientific progress. Currie draws on varied examples from across the historical sciences, from Mayan ritual sacrifice to giant Mesozoic fleas to Mars's mysterious watery past, to develop an account of the nature of, and resources available to, historical science. He presents two major case studies- the emerging explanation of sauropod size, and the ""snowball earth"" hypothesis that accounts for signs of glaciation in Neoproterozoic tropics. He develops the Ripple Model of Evidence to analyze ""unlucky circumstances"" in scientific investigation; examines and refutes arguments for pessimism about the capacity of the historical sciences, defending the role of analogy and arguing that simulations have an experiment-like function. Currie argues for a creative, open-ended approach, ""empirically grounded"" speculation."

By: Adrian Currie (Research Associate University of Cambridge)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780262552035
ISBN 10: 0262552035
Series: Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology
Pages: 376
Publication Date: 21 May 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Adrian Currie is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University.

Reviews for Rock, Bone, and Ruin: An Optimist's Guide to the Historical Sciences

“Here readers will find a rich and insightful discussion of historical scientific research....As such, Rock, Bone, and Ruin is most valuable to those interested in the epistemic challenges that face historical scientists....Philosophers engaged in discussions of realism, idealization, or value pluralism in the sciences will also find significant portions of the book that they can sink their teeth into.” —Philosophy of Science