Paleoaesthetics and the Practice of Paleontology (Elements in the Philosophy of Biology) - Softcover

Turner, Derek D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108727824 ISBN 13: 9781108727822

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2019

Synopsis

The practice of paleontology has an aesthetic as well as an epistemic dimension. Paleontology has distinctively aesthetic aims, such as cultivating sense of place and developing a better aesthetic appreciation of fossils. Scientific cognitivists in environmental aesthetics argue that scientific knowledge deepens and enhances our appreciation of nature. Drawing on that tradition, this Element argues that knowledge of something's history makes a difference to how we engage with it aesthetically. This means that investigation of the deep past can contribute to aesthetic aims. Aesthetic engagement with fossils and landscapes is also crucial to explaining paleontology's epistemic successes.

About this title

Book Description:

This Element argues that knowledge of something's history makes a difference to how we engage with it aesthetically. This means that investigation of the deep past can contribute to aesthetic aims. Aesthetic engagement with fossils and landscapes is also crucial to explaining paleontology's epistemic successes.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1108727824
• ISBN 13: 9781108727822
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 75