How important is the Philosophy of Science in Earth Sciences

Geological Sciences are a branch of Earth Sciences. As the name itself suggests, Geological Sciences, they are also divided into other branches. For each of these branches, which are often interconnected with each other, there are different approaches and different investigation methodologies. This leads to the emergence of controversies and debates which, even today, have not found answers. Famous are the theory of Uniformity versus that of Catastrophism, the great Cretaceous extinction, plate tectonics, the Formation of the Earth. Philosophical methods as the abductive, inductive and deductive methods (Cleaned, 2011) can be useful to address them. Geologists generally use deductive methods and for this are considered secondary Sciences.

The „geological laws“ are considered accepted hypotheses rather than laws in the true sense of the word. We will analyse how one of the most famous controversies, the theory of plate tectonics, has been addressed in the field of Philosophy of Science. The results of the project hope to increase the integration between Philosophers of Science and Geologists, an integration that is still little consolidated. This would also lead to a better integration of geological sciences into society, as an indispensable science for solving emerging global problems, one of which is climate change.