Talk:Uniformitarianism (science)

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Last sentence: Today, however, all mainstream scientists support uniformitarianism.

I think this statement was valid twenty years ago. I remember vaguely having read various articles in science magazines in the recent years reconsidering various catastrophes having occurred during the history of the earth. A quick google search revelead for example [1] (impact events, some literature references) and [2] (a conference). Somebody who is in the field might comment on this. -- Di Stroppo

I have a slight issue with this. There is Uniformitarianism and there is uniformitarianism. The first is the religious belief that everything is now as it always has been and always will be. The second is the scientific principle that one assumes that things occurred in the past as they do today in the absence of evidence to the contrary; it applies to other sciences as well as geology such as astronomy and paleontology Dunc_Harris|☺ 11:07, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

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[edit] all mainstream scientists support uniformitarianism.

That's quite an assertion. I think it's something deserving of proof and reference, and until then should not be phrased as an undisputed fact.

um..... the whole of geology is based on it. 82.3.50.59 17:59, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Useage by renown scientists

The article should mention the use by Charles Darwin and Charles Lyell for their theories. Alan Liefting 22:36, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

I made a small addition indicating that mainstream religious denominations have no problem with uniformitarianism. (One of the pioneers in the development of uniformitarianism was Nicolas Steno who was beatified by Pope John Paul II.)

I also made a few word changes to enhance accuracy, e.g. "The geologist James Hutton was a pioneer of the theory" was changed to "The geologist James Hutton was a pioneer of the principle" as I think most scientists place Uniformitarianism at the principal or "law" level rather than theory. Jay Gregg 22:15, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Propositions of uniformitarianism

The four propositions of uniformitarianism are given in the article as "1) Uniformity of law; 2) Uniformity of kind; 3) Uniformity of degree; 4) Uniformity of result". Could someone who knows them elaborate on their meaning and rationale for acceptance/rejection of each? -- Coffee2theorems | Talk 11:25, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rates of Change

The disambiguation page for uniformitarianism mentions that the processes which govern the formation of mountains occurred at the same rates in the past as today. The article on scientific uniformitarianism does not mention rates of processes but only that the processes are the same. Can somebody knowledgeable in this area add more information to the article in discussion of rates? -- Anonymous 00:01, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Criticism of Geologic Uniformitarianism"

The section with this heading is total nonsense. No scientist of any repute would give any credence to “young earth creationist” criticisms of the principal of uniformitarianism. I therefore am removing it. Also, I believe that this page should be combined with the other Uniformitarianism article. There is no need for to articles covering what is essentially the same subject. (Jay Gregg 02:52, 27 November 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Recent research

The recent research [3] simply clarifies our current understanding of sedimentologic processes and says nothing about uniformitarianism. To say that it challenges uniformitarianism or ...obviously DOES have to do w/uniformitarianism is WP:Original research. Vsmith (talk) 14:43, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

I am beginning to doubt whether you have read the cited research. I does indeed have to do with uniformitarianism, and is therefore not WP:Original research. To claim otherwise is violation of WP:NPOV. Goo2you (talk) 21:54, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I've read the original Science paper and I agree with Vsmith. The work is NOT a challenge to uniformitarianism. Please see my comment on the Catastrophism talk page. This section should be removed. Wilson44691 (talk) 03:27, 12 January 2008 (UTC)