* Here’s something I didn’t see coming. In the two years Extinct has been back in business, I (Max) have written seven (seven!) essays having to do with Charles Lyell, including the one I just posted. So, I thought it might be fun to gather these together in a single place. Call it “Lyell Central.” Or— let’s make it fancier— “The Charles Lyell Collection.” (Pauses. Adjusts monocle. Lights billiard pipe.) Probably I’ll write more about him in the future— I can’t seem to help myself. Anyway, here goes…
“For any book to survive as a classic, it needs to escape its intended audience, to be used for purposes that the author never could have foreseen.” James Secord wrote this sentence with Lyell’s Principles of Geology in mind, and while he goes on to say that many readings of Lyell’s book “narrow its meaning,” others have certainly expanded it, or taken its core vision in new directions.
These essays all intersect with Lyell’s Principles in one way or another. Some are straightforwardly about the Principles. Others simply make contact with it in the course of pursuing their own topics. There are essays about American pragmatism, early philosophy of geology, “amphibious” geologists, and more. (Really, something for everybody.) Short capsule descriptions follow each title.
* * *
Truth also has its paleontology, or when Pragmatism met uniformitarianism
January 19, 2023 (and reposted on December 28, 2024)
In which Max asks why on earth William James brings up paleontology when elaborating his pragmatic theory of truth*
[* It has to do with (what James understands of) the methods of Lyellian geology]
http://www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2024/12/28/truth-also-has-its-paleontology-redux
* * *
The first philosopher of paleontology— er, ‘palaetiology’
November 7, 2023
In which Max considers the geological writings of William Whewell, including his criticisms of Lyell’s Principles
http://www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2023/11/6/william-whewell-the-first-philosopher-of-paleontology
* * *
The importance of background theory, or why James Hall left mountains out of his theory of mountain building
January 31, 2024
In which Max asks whether James Hall really left mountains out of his theory of mountain building (as J.D. Dana famously alleged)*
[* He didn’t, but this only makes sense when you realize that Hall was a Lyellian in his tectonic thinking]
http://www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2023/1/31/the-importance-of-background-theory
* * *
Alien versus amphibian: war of the worldviews?
March 20, 2024
In which Max explores two titans of nineteenth century geology using fictional characters of their own creation, Lyell’s amphibious being and Suess’s extraterrestrial observer (Part 1 of 3)*
[* This one’s mostly about Lyell]
http://www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2024/3/20/alien-versus-amphibian
* * *
“What we are witnessing is the collapse of the terrestrial globe”
April 16, 2024
In which Max explores two titans of nineteenth century geology using fictional characters of their own creation, Lyell’s amphibious being and Suess’s extraterrestrial observer (Part 2 of 3)*
[* This one’s mostly about Eduard Suess]
* * *
Going global: geology between Lyell and Suess
May 22, 2024
In which Max explores two titans of nineteenth century geology using fictional characters of their own creation, Lyell’s amphibious being and Suess’s extraterrestrial observer (Part 3 of 3)*
[* This one tries to sort out a historical disagreement concerning whether Suess was a Lyellian in his tectonic thinking]
* * *
Second thoughts on Lyell
February 16, 2025
In which Max has second thoughts about some s*** he said about Charles Lyell
http://www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025/2/17/second-thoughts-on-lyell
* * *
UPDATE (AN EIGHTH LYELLIAN POST!) WHY THE YANKS WHIFFED ON DRIFT… WAS UNIFORMITARIANISM TO BLAME?
April 28, 2025
This essay isn’t about Lyell, really. It’s about Charles Schuchert. But it is about uniformitarianism— I might have called it, why Charles Schuchert wasn’t as uniformitarian as Naomi Oreskes says. Anyway, I thought I would add it to the list.
http://www.extinctblog.org/extinct/2025/4/24/why-the-yanks-whiffed-on-drift
