Unit 2: Discovery of Historical Geology

From 1992-2004 most Americans believed in what view regarding how the Earth formed?

Creationist View

Only about ____% of Americans believe in climate change.

40%

______ is the study of where things come from

History

The stories people come up with to explain where things come from are called what?

Creation myths.

If a religious belief belongs to someone, then they believe it to be true and every other story is a myth- this proves that everything is about __________.

Perspective

Most of our knowledge of the world began from what?

Religious beliefs

Geology is a product of the discoveries of what civilization?

Judeo-Christian Western Civilization

When did we begin understanding Earth’s history?

In the 1600s- about the time America was founded

When did the first geologic maps begin appearing?

1800s

Scientific knowledge was once rooted in what?

The bible

In the 17th century, what movement occurred that caused a divergence in the belief systems regarding science and theology?

Enlightenment era

Theism is the idea that…

The Bible is the literal truth and contains all knowledge about Earth

Deism is the idea that…

God created the Earth and then withdrew, leaving the Earth to follow natural laws with no intervention

Who was a famous Deist in the 1700s?

Thomas Jefferson

The 18th century culminated in the __________-_________ debate where science and theism diverged.

Uniformitarianism-Catastrophism debate

What perspective did James Usher argue from?

The theist perspective.

What was the first attempt at figuring out the chronological age of Earth?

Using the Bible as a reference, James Usher calculated that Earth began around 4004 BC on a Saturday at about 6 in the evening

The idea that Earth began as a smooth body and has aged over time and its materials have sorted according to densities is called…

Sacred Theory of Earth

Who proposed the Sacred Theory of the Earth?

Thomas Burnet

What was the “Problem of Problems” according to William Paley?

How does the world become complex over time when everything should decay to chaos?

Describe the following beliefs:

Naturalism

Vitalism

Finalism

Naturalism- life is explained by natural laws

Vitalism- everything is controlled by a life force

Finalism- vitalism and a creator designed Earth- “watchmaker argument”

William Paley proposed what argument regarding Natural Theology?

The watchmaker argument

Describe the watchmaker argument in Natural Theology (finalism).

Finding a watch on the ground and wondering how it came to be there, you would realize that it had to have been designed by something for a purpose - “watchmaker”

Naturalism aligns with the ideas of ______.

Deism

List some of Nicholas Steno’s important principles of Geology.

Principle of Superposition

Principle of Original Horizontality

Principle of Lateral Continuity