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Abstract

Geology is science. What is science? In German, we use the word Wissenschaft. Wissen is knowing, and knowing, comes from seeing (Latin vide). Etymologically, science is knowledge through observation. Inference through observation, or inductivism, has been a most influential methodology of science and has been held responsible for the great intellectual revolution which gave rise to modern science: Newton discovered his law of gravitation by inductively generalizing Kepler’s “phenomena of planetary motion,” and Kepler made his generalizations on the basis of Tycho Brahe’s careful astronomical observations.

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Hsü, K.J. (1989). Why Creativity in Geology. In: Physical Principles of Sedimentology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02584-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-02584-0_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-51268-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-02584-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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