{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03072033898305085, 'fraction_numerical': 0.025423728813559324, 'mean_word_length': 5.75, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Scheuchzer, von Haller and de Luc: geological world-views and religious backgrounds in opposition or collaboration?

Abstract This paper describes the influence exerted by religious belief on the scientific accomplishments of three distinctive naturalists of three successive generations in the era of Enlightenment: Johann Jacob Scheuchzer (1672–1733), Albert von Haller (1708–1777), and Jean-André de Luc (1727–1817). The religious attitudes and their impact on the geological views of these naturalists are compared, with focus on the belief in the biblical Flood and its geological interpretation. In all three cases, a religious belief proved to benefit scientific knowledge; furthermore, the attempt to prove the account in Genesis by scientific means united two contrasting views of the Enlightenment: rationalism and biblical dogma. The Enlightenment thus became the ground on which a new, rational–religious world-view started growing.