History and Philosophy of Earth Sciences in practice

Working together with philosophers and historians of science, I am striving for greater visibility of the earth sciences in their work and more inclusion of their thinking and concepts in the earth science communities. This was also the aim of my sabbatical at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies in the humanities and social sciences (NIAS). I participate in the Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities. I also frequently participate in the conferences of Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice and in the Belgian-Dutch Society for the History of Science and University. Here is an overview of my published work.

Philosophy of earth sciences

Kleinhans, M. (2024). Causality and complex systems in the geosciences. In P. Illari, & F. Russo (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of causality and causal methods (pp. 652-659). Taylor & Francis. [DOI] [Portal]
Kleinhans, M. (2021). Down to Earth: History and philosophy of geoscience in practice for undergraduate education. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11(3), 1-15. [DOI] [Repository]
De Regt, H. W., Buskes, C. J. J. & Kleinhans, M. G. (2017). Philosophie der Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften. In: Lohse, S., & Reydon, T. (Eds). Die Philosophien der Einzelwissenschaften. p. 413-439. Grundriss Wissenschaftsphilosophie, Felix Meiner Verlag, Hamburg. (based on Kleinhans et al. 2005)
Kleinhans, M. G., Buskes, C. J. J., & De Regt, H. W. (2010). Philosophy of Earth Science. In Philosophies of the Sciences: A Guide (pp. 213-236). Wiley-Blackwell. [DOI] (shortened version of Kleinhans et al. 2005, contains my figure of induction/abduction/deduction in this accepted manuscript PDF)
Kleinhans, M. G., Buskes, C. J. J., & De Regt, H. W. (2005). Terra Incognita: Explanation and Reductionism in Earth Science. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 19(3), 289-317. https://doi.org/10.1080/02698590500462356, PDF .

Kleinhans, M. G. & van Besouw, J. (2026). Sediment continuity: historical development and misconceptions of a core concept of geomorphology. Geomorphica, accepted.
Kleinhans, M. (2024). Dutch Deltaification / De Deltaïficatie van de Lage Landen on the Shells and Pebbles blog for history of science (light peer review).
Kleinhans, M. G. (2023). Measuring and Manipulating the Rhine River Branches: Interactions of Theory and Embodied Understanding in Eighteenth Century River Hydraulics. Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 46(4), 336-357. [DOI] [Repository]. Also see the Brunings Lecture page.
Kleinhans, M. (2021). Knowing the whole world from the top of a mountain: from orderly systematization to complex explanatory systems. (pp. 1-21). Earth ArXiv [DOI] [Repository] (very early version of a manuscript presently under review). Also see the recorded presentation in the 2024 Brunings Lecture.

Kleinhans, M. G., McMahon, W. J., & Davies, N. S. (2024). What even is a meandering river? A philosophy-enhanced synthesis of multilevel causes and systemic interactions contributing to river meandering. Geological Society Special Publication, 540(1), 43-74. [DOI] [Portal]
Kleinhans, M. G. (2023). Viewpoint: Composing complex earth system models. Ecological Modelling, 482, Article 110403. [DOI] [Repository]
Kleinhans, M. G., Bierkens, M. F. P., & van der Perk, M. (2010). HESS Opinions On the use of laboratory experimentation: “Hydrologists, bring out shovels and garden hoses and hit the dirt”. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 14(2), 369-382. [DOI] [Repository]
Kleinhans, M. G. (2010). Sorting out river channel patterns. Progress in Physical Geography, 34(3), 287-326. [DOI]