Correlation Crosses the Channel
Correlation Crosses the Channel
This chapter explores the Franco-German contexts in which the law of correlation originated, and also considers how Cuvier’s law was used to thwart the transmutationism of Lamarck. It examines Cuvier’s rhetorical presentation of his law, and his significant silence on religion. With a particular focus on Edinburgh and translations of Cuvier’s anatomical and geological writings, the chapter shows how, in Britain during the Napoleonic Wars, there was a myriad of different, and often competing, interpretations of the savant, whose works could be repackaged to endorse both conservative and radical, as well as religious and heretical purposes. The law of correlation itself was often more amenable to the interests of radical materialists than to conservative theologians looking to bolster revealed theology.
Keywords: Edinburgh, Napoleonic Wars, translation, geology, comparative anatomy, materialism, Presbyterianism, transmutationism, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, radicalism
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