Dr Jock Churchman first entered the world of soil science through a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, 1971-73 following degrees in chemistry from New Zealand and a short stint in ceramic research. I have been hooked on soil science ever since. HeI was employed in the New Zealand Soil Bureau, DSIR for 16 years and in CSIRO Division of Soils (later Land and Water) for 14 years and also spent time on fellowships at Reading University (1 year) and the University of Western Australia (6 months). Since 2003, he has been a Senior Research Fellow in soil science at the University of Adelaide. In 2004-2005, I completed (part-time) a BA (Hons) in philosophy from Flinders University with a thesis on “The Status of Soil Science”. He is currently Chair of Commission 2.4 (Soil Mineralogy) of IUSS. As the result of a growing interest in the wider discipline of soil science, He is keen on having more involvement in Commission 4.5 (History, Philosophy and Sociology of Soil Science). I have been fortunate to have a career studying soils. Along with water and air, soils are vital for the survival and well-being of humanity. They are also endlessly fascinating. However, soils are often treated only as useful materials or substrates. My own philosophical study has convinced me that 1) soils have several unique features as objects of study, 2) soil science has developed approaches to these unique features that are distinct from those of other scientific disciplines, e.g. chemistry and physics, and 3) society ignores the insights of soil science at its peril. I believe it is the role of Commission 4.5 to distil out and promote the uniqueness of soil studies while others of our profession necessarily use their training and the accumulated knowledge of soil science to tackle urgent problems.