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Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, [1] is the assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in our present-day scientific observations have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.
The principle of Uniformitarianism states that the geologic processes observed in operation that modify the Earth's crust at present have worked in much the same way over geologic time. [2] A fundamental principle of geology advanced by the 18th century Scottish physician and geologist James Hutton, is that "the present is the key to the past ...
In historical linguistics, the uniformitarian principle is the assumption that processes of language change that can be observed today also operated in the past. Peter Trudgill calls the uniformitarian principle "one of the fundamental bases of modern historical linguistics," which he characterizes, other things being equal, as the principle "that knowledge of processes that operated in the ...
Map of isothermal lines across North America and Europe from Lyell's Principles of Geology (6th edition). Published in three volumes in 1830–1833 by John Murray, the book established Lyell's credentials as an important geological theorist and popularized the doctrine of uniformitarianism (first suggested by James Hutton in Theory of the Earth published in 1795). [3]
The scientific basis of this is the principle of uniformitarianism, which states that the sediments within ancient sedimentary rocks were deposited in the same way as sediments which are being deposited at the Earth's surface today. [citation needed]
Uniformitarianism describes an Earth formed by the same natural phenomena that are at work today, the product of slow and continuous geological changes. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The theory can be summarized by the phrase "the present is the key to the past."
Uniformitarianism, incrementalism, and reformism are similar concepts. Gradualism can also refer to desired, controlled change in society, institutions, or policies. For example, social democrats and democratic socialists see the socialist society as achieved through gradualism.
By 1827, he had abandoned law and embarked on a geological career that would result in fame and the general acceptance of uniformitarianism, a working out of the ideas proposed by James Hutton a few decades earlier. Charles Lyell at the British Association meeting in Glasgow 1840. Painting by Alexander Craig.