Uniformitarianism and Gradualism

Daily Web Guide

| Syllabus | Schedule | Email Kerry Magruder |

Assignments	Peters, ch. 5.
Reminders	Next time: Chernicoff, Stratigraphy, ch. 9.

Reading Focus Questions

Read the entire chapter. Focus your attention on methods of reasoning in the earth sciences rather than merely Peters' presentation of information. Be prepared to answer any of these questions should they occur on a quiz or on the final exam.

1. According to the motto of uniformitarianism, "The ___________ is the key to the past."
   • What present-day geological processes can be observed within the span of a human lifetime?

    

2. Peters suggests that uniformitarianism has been used in not just different, but in contradictory ways.
   1. Uniformity of natural laws
   2. Uniformity of natural agents or causes
   3. Uniformity of rates
   4. Uniformity of conditions
   •  
   • Which of the above formulations of the principle of uniformitarianism describe the ideas of Charles Lyell?

      

   • Which of the above is held by most geologists today (cf. highlight on p. 65)?

      

   • Discuss the three-step method for implementing uniformitarianism Peters describes on p. 71. Is this methodology still entitled to be known as uniformitarianism?

      

   • On page 66 Peters suggests that recourse to the first definition causes uniformitarianism to lose content. Explain.

    

3. The idea allegedly opposed to uniformitarianism is __________________, which describes the geological views of Georges Cuvier.

    

4. Does adherence to uniformitarianism predispose a geologist to an ancient Earth?

    

5. Does adherence to catastrophism predispose a geologist to a recent Earth?

    

6. Were (are) all catastrophists biblical literalists? Are today's creation scientists catastrophists?

    

7. Might a uniformitarian gradualist also accept catastrophes?

    

8. On p. 64 Peters comments: "Bishop Ussher and his supporters insisted that all such rocks had formed during _________ flood." Explain why this statement is historically inaccurate.
   •  
   • What evidence did Bishop Ussher look to as the basis for his conclusions?

    

9. In the highlight at the bottom of p. 64, Peters speculates as to why "geologists developed an automatic hostility to any catastrophic hypothesis, however secular." What is her suggested explanation? Do you agree? If not, what guesses would you hazard to explain the dogmatism with which uniformitarian gradualism is often advocated?

    

10. On p. 65, Peters comments: "Geologists have no ______________ reason to think that the instant of geologic time in which they live is representative of the earth's past." Discuss the anthropocentrism of "the present is the key to the past."

     

11. According to Peters, the origin of _________ on the Earth does not seem to fit with a perspective of uniformitarian gradualism. What other examples does she give on p. 70?