1785 Uniformitarianism
In 1785 James Hutton could no longer credit what the biblical inscriptions were stating about how old the Earth was, so he decided to try to find out the history and what the true age of the Earth. This breakthrough took two men to complete and justify; uniformitarianism is a “theory that processes that occurred in the geological past are still at work today” (Larsen 2017 pg25). With evidence that Hutton collected, he came to the conclusion that the Earth’s surface changed due to natural forces which include the wind and rain. These changes have been recorded from the multiple layers of rock or the strata, that have been discovered on multiple mountains and canyons. From the different strata’s that Hutton gathered evidence from he was able to, “… calculate Earth’s age in the millions of years” (Larsen 2017 pg24). Although this discovery was forgotten about, it remained and became the work of Charles Lyell, he made it his mission to oversee and confirm that uniformitarianism was accurate. Lyell gathered evidence and personal observations that tested Hutton’s idea in order to prove that it is a theory, which he was able to accomplish.
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This breakthrough provided evidence that advanced the way for scientific thinking, the biblical way of understanding had little to no pull with this new information.
Uniformitarianism and its implications, explain the history of Earth which has allowed scientists to discover and make accurate estimates when dating objects/species (Larsen 2017, pg 25). Scientists can use this new idea to predict environment factors years ago and compare it with multiple studies such as, extinct and existing mammals. The new-found knowledge allowed, Hutton and Lyell to “revise the timescale for the study of past life” (Larsen 2017 pg25). This breakthrough paved the way for a new kind of thinking about the history of the Earth, breaking away from the biblical ideas and forming a new
perspective. 1809 Lamarckism Jean-Baptise de Monet, also known as Chevalier de Lamarck, developed an idea that plants and animals do change overtime and with a purpose, this is known as Lamarck’s mechanism of evolution. Depending if there is a change of demand or needs that a species inquires, they will adapt and modify to the new situation. Lamarckism is the belief that if the prior generation faced a new hardship and went through modifications, this would then be passed down to their offspring allowing for the new generation to be adapted. This however was never proven to be accurate and later discovered to be wrong by Charles Darwin; he proved how natural selection played a vital role on how a species modified and developed over a time period. Lamarckism did allow for other scientists to continue a study in the direction of Lamarck, however their own ideas varied from the main concept of Lamarckism, such as Darwinism. This mechanism was completed up to Lamarck’s ability, however it could not be proven true (Larsen 2017, pg 30). While Lamarckism was proven to be wrong it did have a vital role on the development of scientific breakthroughs. Prior to Lamarckism there was not a set idea on how a species changed based on their wants or needs. Although it has been proven wrong, without it, the pace at which natural selection and the understanding of evolution was thought of, might not have been understood until years later. Lamarckism was the, “first attempt to develop a theory built on the premise that living organisms arose from precursor species” (Larsen 2017, pg30). Lamarckism set the groundwork which allowed other theories to form, creating more discussion which ultimately lead to new discoveries. The idea of Lamarckism also proved to the non-science population, a short-lived explanation, as to why plants and animals have changed over time. Again, it was the first step to exploring the idea of a species evolution by inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Our understanding of the Earth’s interior has been a focus for scientific study for multiple decades, recognised in the early 1900’s. Throughout the years, scientists have debated and quarreled over their findings, observations and theories for the most correct model of the composition and internal structure of the Earth.
The disaster theory, Gould claims, is an example of good science. It has testable evidence and has an impact on studies in other fields of science, it develops further and explains why the extinction of dinosaurs occurred simultaneously with other events. This theory suggests that a large comet hit the Earth sixty five million years ago, causing the cloud of dust to rise into the sky and to block sunlight. As a result, world temperatures went down significantly, the ice age bega...
years ” (Quimby 2), since this epoch involved the fundamental evolution of mankind to the present. It is important to
However, by introducing a new term “grue”, Goodman says that not all generalizations are necessarily confirmed by their examples. Goodman defines “grue” as follows: “An object is grue if and only if it was first observed before 2020 A.D. and is green, or if it was not first observed before 2020 A.D. and is blue”. As we are in the year of 2014 now, all the evidence we have supports the “grue” hypothesis exactly as much as it supports the “green” hypothesis. Taking the inductive reasoning above, if we can conclude that “all emeralds are green”, it is equally true that we can conclude “all emeralds are grue”. Nevertheless, this will lead to an absurd conclusion that the emeralds we have observed so far are both green and grue, which obviously does not reflect the real case in science because the hypothesis th...
731‒732). Besides that, until the 17th century, most Europeans thought that a Biblical Flood played a major role in shaping the Earth's surface (Kious & Tilling, 1996). This way of thinking was known as ‘catastrophism’, and geology ‒ from the Greek γῆ (gê) meaning ‘the Earth’ and λόγος (lógos) meaning ‘knowledge’ ‒ was based on the belief that all changes on Earth were sudden and caused by a series of catastrophes. However, by the mid-19th century, catastrophism gave way to ‘uniformitarianism’, a new way of thinking centred around the ‘Uniformitarian Principle’, sometimes also referred to as the ‘Principle of Uniformity’, proposed in 1785 by James Hutton (1726‒1797), a Scottish farmer, chemist, and naturalist. This principle is nowadays well known among geologist and often expressed as ‘The present is the key to the past’. Hutton published his ideas in Theory of the Earth (Hutton, 1788), among other publications. Hutton’s work ‒ notoriously difficult to read ‒ did not become widely known until it was published by John Playfair (1748‒1819), a Scottish scientist and mathematician, in his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth (Playfair,
"Dendrochronology is the only archaeometric technique where determination of absolute dates accurate to the year is either theoretically or practically possible"
regions of the earth can indicate which rock layer is older than the other. Trilobite fossils
Hutton thought that sedimentation takes place so slowly that the oldest of rocks are made of, in his words, “materials furnished from the ruins of former continents.” The opposite happens when rock is eroded or decayed from weather or conditions of the area. He called this destruction and renewal the “great geological cycle,” and then realized that it had been happening for many years. Another one of Hutton’s theories was the Theory of Uniformitarianism. That was the idea that geological forces still at works today, were not that noticeable to people but they have a great affect on us, meaning that those forces still work the same as they did in the past. He died March 26th, 1797 in Edinburgh.
The explanation of human variation based on the ideology of separate human origins was first proposed in 1520 by Paracelsus and in 1655 through the works of Issac de Peyere (Banton, 2010). However Polygenism later resurfaced during The Enlightenment in 1777 in the “Sketches of the History of Man” by Lord Kames and was supported in the last 20 years of the 18th century by European historians and ethnographers including Edward Long and Christoph Meiners (Stocking, 1992). During The Enlightenment, the systemisation of race concepts spurred great debate between advocates of monogenism and polygenism. Authors like Stocking (1992) suggest that although Polygenism had its footings in the 18th centaury its prevalence was enhanced by the middle of the
Thomas Kuhn, one of the most widely recognized contributors to the discipline of the philosophy of science, raises the argument within The Structure of Scientific Revolutions that advancement within the field of science occurs in a revolutionary manner as opposed to one more progressive or cumulative. Kuhn makes the observation that scientific research is conducted cumulatively where every piece of evidence contributes towards gradually understanding a specific scientific phenomenon (Kuhn, 96). However, lasting scientific advancement only transpires when previously accepted scientific theories are overturned with entirely different, more suitable theories. Kuhn makes reference to the Copernican Heliocentric model as an instance to validate his assertion (Forster). Applying Kuhn’s argument to this revolutionary theory will provide clarity and further understanding necessary to demonstrate how this philosophical approach can be applicable towards relatively modern scientific theories such as plate tectonics.
...urchfield, Joe D. Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
Tarbuck & Lutgens, authors of our textbook, present the reader with an uniformitarian perspective on geology (pp. 324-326). There was so much more that I was unfamiliar with such as all the science that scientist uncovered from their studies and research. Though there are differences as to how creation came about, there is still plenty of knowledge gained from the efforts and hard work from men who gave their lives so that mankind would be all the better for it. The science that went into developing instruments for testing purposes, for exploration, and to further research efforts to answer the mysteries of creation continues to be in the hearts and minds of people that God
Willey claims that at the beginning of the twentieth century there was a " Stratigraphic revolution. However, Lyman argues against this, claiming that the shift was in archaeologists view of time and space instead of excavation methods as a whole. Later in the twentieth century another sort of ' revolution ' occurs with the di spute or need for more universal excavation method s. First, it is important to set a base understanding of archaeological stratigraphy in general.
At the very dawning of the science of historical geology, James Hutton developed views on the earth’s geologic processes and ow they affect the planet unlike any other scientist before him. His idea that the planet’s processes revolved in a cyclic fashion were the cornerstone of uniformitarianism. Although he did not coin the phrase himself, an honor bestowed upon William Whewell, he did form the basic idea that the history of the earth can be explained by what is happening now.
utilizes biostratigraphy. This is a method in which each layer of rock is tested to see if the oldest layer can be traced back to the time of the mass extinction. Even though this process is used frequently, it is difficult to estimate because of the amount of variable that could cause inconclusive