2 - Soil Science in Historical and Philosophical Perspective

Abstract

The chapter examines the interactions of political, climatic, economic, and demographic systems of European cultures from the Late Roman era through the 19th century, when modern soil science emerged as a discipline of study. The purpose is to link the ideas and focus of modern soil science to its historical roots. Modern soil science's primary focus has been the identification and classification of the soils covering the Earth's surface. Soil science became necessary as a result of the interactions of political, climatic, cultural, and demographic systems. Its historical context can be traced back to the Late Roman period in Europe. Small privately held farms were abandoned due to high taxation by an indebted empire as a result of excessive war and corruption. These abandoned fields were acquired by wealthy urbanites as investment properties, a hedge against likely unstable political and commercial futures. Thus, large tracts of land were owned and controlled by a minority of the people following the collapse of the Roman social, economic, and political system after AD 476. Further soil science limited to description and classification cannot adequately address issues of sustainability, preservation, pollution, climate change and carbon sequestration, urbanization, and cosmology, as well as the ongoing demands placed on agriculture to feed a growing global population and on engineering for environmental hazard assessments and mitigations.