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Uniformitarianism
Uniformitarianism is the principle or assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.〔, "''The assumption of spatial and temporal invariance of natural laws is by no means unique to geology since it amounts to a warrant for inductive inference'' which, as Bacon showed nearly four hundred years ago, is ''the basic mode of reasoning in empirical science. Without assuming this spatial and temporal invariance, we have no basis for extrapolating from the known to the unknown'' and, therefore, no way of reaching general conclusions from a finite number of observations."〕 It has included the gradualistic concept that "the present is the key to the past" and is functioning at the same rates. Uniformitarianism has been a key first principle of geology and virtually all fields of science, but naturalism's modern geologists, while accepting that geology has occurred across deep time, no longer hold to a strict gradualism.
Uniformitarianism, coined by William Whewell, was originally proposed in contrast to catastrophism〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Concept of Uniformitarianism )〕 by British naturalists in the late 18th century, starting with the work of the Scottish geologist James Hutton, which was refined by John Playfair and popularised by Charles Lyell's ''Principles of Geology'' in 1830.
==Epistemological status==
Uniformitarianism, expressed as the spatial and temporal invariance of natural laws and processes, is ''a priori'' knowledge insofar as it is knowledge that is presumed to be true before observation of the real world, rather than something that can be gleaned directly from observation of the real world. It is a philosophical assumption within the domain of metaphysics〔Gordon BL (2013). In Defense of Uniformitarianism. Perspectives on Science & Christian Faith; Vol. 65 Issue 2, p79〕 and an unprovable postulate that cannot be verified using scientific analysis.〔, "''Uniformity is an unprovable postulate'' justified, or indeed required, on two grounds. First, nothing in our incomplete but extensive knowledge of history disagrees with it. Second, ''only with this postulate is a rational interpretation of history possible'', and we are justified in seeking—as scientists we must seek—such a rational interpretation."〕
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