Uniformitarianism

Uniformitarianism

When we look around our world today, we see a dynamic, almost chaotic planet that is constantly changing. Volcanoes erupt, the earth’s crust moves, mountains are weathered and other such activities occur around the world at almost any given moment. These dynamic events occur with such frequency and repetition that clearly defining a beginning or end is exceedingly difficult. Considering this difficulty and by relying on purely observational information, one can only assume that the processes that go on today have been going on since the earth was created. This precise idea is the very platform of the scientific view called uniformitarianism.

At the very dawning of the science of historical geology, James Hutton developed views on the earth’s geologic processes and ow they affect the planet unlike any other scientist before him. His idea that the planet’s processes revolved in a cyclic fashion were the cornerstone of uniformitarianism. Although he did not coin the phrase himself, an honor bestowed upon William Whewell, he did form the basic idea that the history of the earth can be explained by what is happening now.

Since this time, the term uniformitarianism has been manipulated, altered, and redefined to mean a variety of different meanings spanning various fields of science. However, in the field of geology, uniformitarianism (or actualism) means something very specific. The term does not denote that every process we see before us now has been going on for eons, rather it stand for the chemical and physical laws that govern today’s processes. Evidence shows that the ancient atmosphere of the earth is extremely different from the one we can see today. There fore, the means by which erosi...

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...revious glaciers.

The idea of uniform natural laws which govern processes is a very logical one. However, one must realize that no one can be absolutely certain that what we say happened actually happened. That is simply the chance we must take. We can only use our skills of observation and intellect and make educated guesses at what occurred. Uniformitarianism is almost exactly that. It is an educated guess using observational and purely objective evidence. This way, we can make our best attempt at putting together the vast and complicated history of earth.

Bibliography:

Hamblin, W. Kenneth and Eric H. Christiansen. Earth’s Dynamic Systems. 7th Ed.

Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Copyright: 1995. Pg. 182-184

Levin, Harold L. Earth’s Dynamic Systems. 5th Ed. Saunders College Publishing

New York, NY. Copyright: 1996. Pg. 10-11