What is uniformitarianism?
Q: What is uniformitarianism?
A: Uniformitarianism is the idea that the same physical laws of today have always operated and the causes acting on the world today also acted in the past.
Q: Who proposed the idea of uniformitarianism?
A: James Hutton proposed the idea of uniformitarianism in his 1795 geology book Theory of the Earth.
Q: What is gradualism in relation to uniformitarianism?
A: Gradualism means that the processes which formed the rocks of the Earth were slow, but they made the world what it is today.
Q: What is the philosophy that uniformitarianism is part of?
A: Uniformitarianism is part of the wider philosophy called the philosophy of naturalism.
Q: Who coined the term "uniformitarianism"?
A: William Whewell invented the term "uniformitarianism" in 1837 to describe Hutton's basic idea.
Q: Who popularized Hutton's ideas?
A: John Playfair popularized Hutton's ideas in his 1802 work Illustrations of the Huttonian theory of the Earth, and Charles Lyell in his Principles of geology (1830 to 1833).
Q: What is catastrophism?
A: Catastrophism is the idea that major changes in the Earth take place through sudden and violent events, and it opposes uniformitarianism in geology.
