ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines how scientonomy, an empirical science of science, and provides an opportunity for a new method of integrating History of Science (HS) and Philosophy of Science (PS). It argues that HS and PS each provide the observational and theoretical components to this empirical meta-study of the study of science. The book addresses narrative-based explanations in the sciences, and focuses on palaeontology and geology, the so-called historical sciences. It aims to understand the ways in which scientific change occurs, and achieves this through an interrogation of the use of narrative to formulate and advance the research questions of the scientific disciplines. The book draws upon work carried out by Uljana Feest and Friedrich Steinle to provide a conceptual history of teleology.
