Abstract
Uniformitarianism is a dual concept postulating uniformity of rates of geologic change and time and space invariance of natural laws. The first is false and inhibits hypothesis formation, the second belongs to science as a whole and is not unique to geology. The first concept, titled substantive uniformitarianism, is incorrect and should be abandoned; the second, titled methodological uniformitarianism, is now superfluous and is best confined to the past history of geology.
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Log in using your username and password
Purchase access
You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
In this issue
Jump to section
Related Articles
Cited By...
- Extrapolating body masses in large terrestrial vertebrates
- Methodological uniformitarianism of Hugo Kołłataj: an unknown Polish precursor of the Lyellian geological paradigm
- Was the Ediacaran-Cambrian radiation a unique evolutionary event?
- Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping the Lost Continent of Lemuria
- Impacts from space: the implications for uniformitarian geology
- The Nature of the Darwinian Revolution