Descartes’s Geology, or How to Access the Earth’s Past Through Reason
Keywords:
Descartes, History of Geology, Mechanical Philosophy, Natural Philosophy, Terraqueous GlobeAbstract
This study aims to recover the significance of Cartesian thought for the History of Geology. To this end, Descartes’s thesis is examined from two perspectives: the emergence of a new way of interpreting the planet—referred to as the Terraqueous Globe—and the Cartesian Natural Philosophy within the broader context of seventeenth‑century mechanism. The analysis shows that Descartes presents a coherent theory, transforming the Terraqueous Globe into an object of scientific inquiry by interpreting it mechanically and attributing to it a past accessible to reason. Such a proposal did not go unnoticed by his contemporaries and was able to influence philosophers and naturalists in the decades that followed.
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