Uniformitarianism  

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 +In the [[Metaphysical_naturalism|philosophy of naturalism]], '''uniformitarianism''' assumes that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the [[universe]] now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. It is frequently summarized as "the present is the key to the past," because it holds that all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world.
 +
 +Modern uniformitarianism was formulated by Scottish [[Natural history|naturalists]] in the late 18th century, starting with the work of the [[geologist]] [[James Hutton]], which was refined by [[John Playfair]] and popularised by [[Charles Lyell]]'s ''Principles of Geology'' in 1830. The term ''uniformitarianism'' was coined by [[William Whewell]], who also coined the term [[catastrophism]] for the idea that the Earth was shaped by a series of sudden, short-lived, violent events.
 +==See also==
 +* [[Catastrophism]]
 +* [[Gradualism]]
 +* [[History of geology]]
 +* [[History of paleontology]]
 +* [[Paradigm shift]]
 +* [[Perfect cosmological principle]]
 +* [[Scientific consensus]]
-The [[19th century]] saw the [[classical age]] as being the precursor of [[academicism]], including such movements as [[uniformitarianism]] in the sciences, and the creation of rigorous categories in artistic fields. Various movements of the romantic period saw themselves as classical revolts against a prevailing trend of emotionalism and irregularity, for example the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelites]]. By this point classicism was old enough that previous classical movements received revivals; for example, the Renaissance was seen as a means to combine the organic medieval with the orderly classical. The 19th century continued or extended many classical programs in the sciences, most notably the Newtonian program to account for the movement of energy between bodies by means of exchange of mechanical and thermal energy. 
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In the philosophy of naturalism, uniformitarianism assumes that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe. It is frequently summarized as "the present is the key to the past," because it holds that all things continue as they were from the beginning of the world.

Modern uniformitarianism was formulated by Scottish naturalists in the late 18th century, starting with the work of the geologist James Hutton, which was refined by John Playfair and popularised by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology in 1830. The term uniformitarianism was coined by William Whewell, who also coined the term catastrophism for the idea that the Earth was shaped by a series of sudden, short-lived, violent events.

See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Uniformitarianism" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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