Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark • Volume 57
On the origin of natural history: Steno’s modern, but forgotten philosophy of science Hansen, J. M. 2009–11–01. On the origin of natural history: Steno’s modern, but forgotten philosophy of science © 2009 by Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark, Vol. 57, pp. 1–24. ISSN 0011–6297. (www.2dgf.dk/publikationer/bulletin)
Abstract: Nicolaus Steno (Niels Stensen, 1638–86) is considered to be the founder of geology as a discipline of modern science, and is also considered to be founder of scientific conceptions of the human glands, muscles, heart and brain. With respect to his anatomical results the judgment of posterity has always
considered Steno to be one of the founders of modern anatomy, whereas Steno’s paternity to the methods known to day of all students of geology was almost forgotten during the 130 yr from 1700 to 1830.
Besides geology and anatomy there are still important sides of Steno’s scientific contributions to be rediscovered. Steno’s general philosophy of science is one of the clearest formulated philosophies of modern science as it appeared during the 17th Century. It includes
• separation of scientific methods from religious arguments,
• a principle of how to seek “demonstrative certainty” by demanding considerations from both reductionist and holist perspectives,
• a series of purely structural (semiotic) principles developing a stringent basis for the pragmatic, historic (diachronous) sciences as opposed to the categorical, timeless (achronous) sciences,
• “Steno’s ladder of knowledge” by which he formulated the leading principle of modern science i.e., how true knowledge about deeper, hidden causes (“what we are ignorant about”) can be approached by combining analogue experiences with logic reasoning.
However, Steno’s ideas and influence on the general principles of modern science are still quite unknown outside Scandinavia, Italy, France and Germany. This unfortunate situation may be explained with the fact that most of his philosophical statements have not been translated to English until recent decades. Several Latin philologists state that Steno’s Latin language is of great beauty and poetic value, and that translations to other languages cannot give justice to Steno’s texts. Thus, translations may have seemed too difficult.
Steno’s ideas on the philosophy of science appear in both his many anatomical and in his fewer geological papers, all of which with one exception (in French) were written in Latin. A concentration of his philosophy of science was given by himself in his last scientific lecture “Prooemium” (1673), which was not translated from Latin to English before 1994. Therefore, after the decline of Latin as a scientific language Steno’s philosophy of science and ideas on scientific reasoning remained quite unknown, although his ideas should be considered extremely modern and path finding for the scientific revolution of the bio- and geo-sciences. Moreover, Steno’s philosophy of science is comparable to Immanuel Kant’s 80 yr younger theory on perception, Charles S. Peirce’s 230 yr younger theory on abduction, and—especially—Karl R. Popper’s 300 yr younger theory on scientific discovery by conjecture and refutation.
Keywords: Steno, Philosophy of science, Natural history, Principles of geology, Diachronous science, Enlightenment.
Address:
,
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
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Structural analysis of superposed fault systems of the Bornholm horst block, Tornquist Zone, DenmarkGraversen, O. 2009–11–15. Structural analysis of superposed fault systems of the Bornholm horst block, Tornquist Zone, Denmark © 2009 by Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark, Vol. 57, pp. 25–49. ISSN 0011–6297. (www.2dgf.dk/publikationer/bulletin)
Abstract: The Bornholm horst block is composed of Precambrian crystalline basement overlain by Palaeozoic and Mesozoic cover rocks. The cover intervals are separated by an angular unconformity and a hiatus spanning the Devonian through Middle Triassic interval. Late Palaeozoic faulting of the Early Palaeozoic Baltica platform is correlated with early-middle Carboniferous deformation in the Variscan foreland and with faulting associated with dolerite dyke injection in Skåne in the Late Carboniferous – Early Permian. The Palaeozoic fault systems are striking NW-SE and WNW-ESE and the platform series are dipping towards the SE and ESE respectively.
The Mesozoic faulting was associated with the development of a horst-graben framework in the Bornholm-Skåne segment of the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone. Mesozoic fault subsidence started in the Rønne Graben in the Triassic. In the Jurassic the Arnager-Sose block became active, cut off from the Bornholm block; in addition the Læså Graben (new) and the Øle Å fault block complex (new) were cut into the central Bornholm block from the south. In the Late Cretaceous the central Bornholm block was perforated by isolated fault blocks, i.e. the Nyker block, the Bøsthøj block and the Lobbæk block (new) along with subsidence of the Holsterhus block and renewed subsidence of the Arnager-Sose block. The Mesozoic series are dipping towards the southwest.
The Palaeozoic fault systems were associated with two-dimensional plane strain during ENE-WSW and NNE-SSW extension. By contrast the Jurassic and Cretaceous fault systems were associated with three-dimensional strain with maximum extension striking NE-SW and secondary extension striking NW-SE. The Mesozoic palaeostress fields were associated with the break down of the Pangea supercontinent.
Keywords: Tornquist Zone, Bornholm horst block, superposed fault systems, two-dimensional plane strain, three-dimensional strain.
Address:
, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
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