2019/12/01 by Koen Tanghe · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Epistemology #History of Science and Medicine #History of Science and Natural History #Philosophy #Philosophy and History of Science #Polymath #Theology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/posc_a_00326
openalex publication_date 2019/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
In 1847, the British polymath William Whewell pointed out that the sciences for which he, in 1837, had coined the term “palætiological” have much in common and that they may reflect light upon each other by being treated together. This recommendation is here put into practice in a specific way, to wit, not by comparing the palaetiological sciences that Whewell distinguished himself but by comparing the general historical development of the scientific study of the four broad palætiological domains that he enumerated in 1847: the solar system, the Earth, its vegetable and animal creation, and man. For wide and various as their subjects are, it will be found that [the palætiological sciences] have all certain principles, maxims, and rules of procedure in common; and thus may reflect light upon each other by being treated together. William Whewell ( 1847 , 1, p. 640)