Uniformitarianism vs. Catastrophism

Uniformitarianismnoun

The scientific principle that natural processes operated in the past in the same way and at the same rates that they operate today.

Uniformitarianismnoun

The uniformitarian doctrine.

Uniformitarianism

Uniformitarianism, also known as the Doctrine of Uniformity or the Uniformitarian Principle, 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. It refers to invariance in the metaphysical principles underpinning science, such as the constancy of cause and effect throughout space-time, but has also been used to describe spatiotemporal invariance of physical laws.

Catastrophismnoun

(geology) The doctrine that sudden catastrophes, rather than continuous change, cause the main features of the Earth's crust.

Catastrophismnoun

(biology) en

Catastrophismnoun

The practice or tendency of catastrophizing, regarding bad things as catastrophic.

Catastrophismnoun

The doctrine that the geological changes in the earth's crust have been caused by the sudden action of violent physical causes; - opposed to the doctrine of uniformism.

Catastrophism

In geology, catastrophism theorises that the Earth has largely been shaped by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. This contrasts with uniformitarianism (sometimes called gradualism), according to which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, brought about all the Earth's geological features.