In which Max looks back at a road not taken in 20th century philosophy of science: Stephen Toulmin’s Wittgenstein-influenced “practice turn”

In which Max revisits Goethe’s weird claim about America lacking basalt with some expert help

In which Max considers the history of the expression “Cambrian explosion” and asks whether it’s here to stay

In which Max asks why Goethe once said in a poem that America has no basalt (huh?)

In which Max considers the suggestion that archeology is distinctive in its frequent use of arguments from absence, and finds it wanting