Wright, Jonathan Jeffrey and Finnegan, Diarmid A.
(2018)
Rocks, Skulls and Materialism: Geology and Phrenology in Late-Georgian Belfast.
Notes and Records of the Royal Society, 72.
pp. 25-55.
ISSN 0035-9149
Abstract
Recent years have seen the development of a more nuanced understanding of the emergence
of scientific naturalism in the nineteenth century. It has become apparent that scientific
naturalism did not emerge sui generis in the years following the publication of Charles
Darwin’s On the origin of species (1859), but was present, if only in incipient form,
much earlier in the century. Building on recent scholarship, this article adopts a
geographically focused approach and explores debates about geology and phrenology—
two of the diverse forms of knowledge that contributed to scientific naturalism—in lateGeorgian Belfast. Having provided the venue for John Tyndall’s infamous 1874 address
as president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Belfast occupies
a central place in the story of nineteenth-century scientific naturalism. However, in
uncovering the intricate and surprising ways in which scientific knowledge gained, or was
denied, epistemic and civic credibility in Belfast, this discussion will demonstrate that
naturalism, materialism and the relationship between science and religion were matters of
public debate in the town long before Tyndall’s intervention.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
geology; phrenology; naturalism; late-Georgian Belfast;
civic politics; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Arts & Humanities > History |
| Item ID: |
12976 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2017.0023 |
| Depositing User: |
Jonathan Wright
|
| Date Deposited: |
21 May 2020 11:47 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Notes and Records of the Royal Society |
| Publisher: |
The Royal Society |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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