Paleoaesthetics and the Practice of Paleontology

by Derek D. Turner

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108575157
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/24/2019
Series:	Elements in the Philosophy of Biology
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	9 MB

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Paleoaesthetics; 3. Historical cognitivism; 4. Aesthetic-epistemic feedback effects; 5. Functional morphology as aesthetic engagement; 6. Explaining historical scientific success; 7. Fossils as epistemic tools and aesthetic things; 8. The dinosaur phylogeny debate; 9. Why are dinosaurs always fighting?; 10. Conclusion.