The Issue of Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism through Comparison - Assignment Example

A discussion will be conducted on how neither philosophy should be taken to literally but determine which philosophy has been deemed more accurate by the scientific community. Effectively both philosophies try to reach a common goal insofar as they both try to explain the ultimate formation of geological phenomenon however they both go about it in different ways. Catastrophism ultimately takes a ratchet approach and explains off much of the current formation of our geologic world through a series of sudden events which shaped our modern world.

According to James (2001), the origins of this theory are largely based on the writings of Immanuel Velikovsky who postulated that many ancient myths could ultimately be attributed to a near-collision between Venus and Earth. Whilst this represents a pseudo-science approach it could be further argued that Catastrophism does not have any universal guiding principles and catastrophist theories can run a wide range from impact events shaping our current biological makeup right through to the theories of Velikovsky.

In terms of estimating the age of the earth, effectively people who subscribe to Catastrophism theories believe that much of the Earths development came in cycles and if one can trace back all of these cycles back to their origin they can estimate the age of the earth (Though estimates vary widely). In contrast to Catastrophism is Uniformitarianism which postulates that most of the natural laws of science that play on our earth now, also applied since its origins. Meaning that the development of the earth has been a slow and gradual process, which is often compared to the erosion.