The moral basis of soil science and geology: What antebellum farmers knew and why anyone cared

Abstract

Soil science and geology had common historical origins in the “internal improvement” era of the early American Republic that sought both cultural and material progress. This paper draws from the rural press, regional agricultural societies, and the first wave of state scientific surveys in that era to discuss the early Republic foundations of those new sciences. It discusses the dynamic and productive circulation of soil-based studies in an era that made it possible for later professional scientific activities to gain influence. It also suggests by way of conclusion that soil scientists and geologists of the twenty-first century can culturally ground their own activities more fully by articulating the purposes of their work as part of broader moral imperatives. To do this, they can treat new calls for sustainability science as a current version of improvement. By recognizing the fundamentally dual aims of sustainability—materially, to achieve the protection of resources and, culturally, to make progress toward more sustainable social structures—soil scientists and geologists can recall the common purpose of their work and avoid the distance from collective cultural activity that professional specialization of the last century and a half has brought.