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Nov 22, 2019 · Uniformitarianism is the idea that the present processes shape the earth and the past, and that the present is the key to the past. Learn about its origins, evolution, and applications in geology and evolution.
- Matt Rosenberg
Oct 19, 2023 · Learn how the principle of uniformitarianism, developed by James Hutton and Charles Lyell, challenges the idea of catastrophism and shapes the science of geology. Find out how uniformitarianism supports Darwin's theory of evolution and how it applies to modern-day geologic events.
In geology, uniformitarianism has included the gradualistic concept that "the present is the key to the past" and that geological events occur at the same rate now as they have always done, though many modern geologists no longer hold to a strict gradualism.
The Present Is the Key to the Past. Part of Hall of Planet Earth. This is a statement of the uniformitarian principle. Deceptively simple but enormously powerful, it means that the processes occurring today have operated throughout most of the Earth’s history.
Sep 27, 2018 · Learn how James Hutton and Charles Lyell developed the principle of uniformitarianism, which states that present-day processes have operated throughout geologic time. Explore the evidence and implications of this fundamental geologic principle for understanding the past history of the Earth.
The central argument in Principles was that the present is the key to the past – a concept of the Scottish Enlightenment which David Hume had stated as "all inferences from experience suppose ... that the future will resemble the past", and James Hutton had described when he wrote in 1788 that "from what has actually been, we have data for ...
Jan 1, 2014 · In that vein, I opt to link the base of the Anthropocene with the appearance in of Lyell’s catchphrase “The Present is the Key to the Past” in the literature, at AD 1830. Defining the exact beginning of the Anthropocene is an arbitrary matter and more or less the same as defining the Present.
