Trakar
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- Feb 28, 2011
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- #81
Uniformitarianism is a fundamental underpinning of geology and is the foundational observation of the physical world, it is by no means a "belief system".
Uniformitarianism was a foundational underpinning of geology when geology meant a generalized understanding of the Earth and it was believed to be several thousands of years old in a universe that wasn't much older and everything within and without was believed to exist in a steady and unchanging state.
It has been beat back by the facts and observed changes every since that time. This isn't to say that the consideration that the same basic principles in operation and mechanism today are fundementally the same throughout most of geological history is incorrect, but rather that while uniformitarianism is a flawed belief system based upon a flawed philosophy (eg "an unchanging universe") there are some useful RoT principles initiated by that flawed philosophical understanding that can yeild useful understandings.
When a geologist makes a prediction based on the PRINCIPLE of uniformitarianism he will tell you what will happen, what it will look like, and what the result of it will be.
Is that why the overwhelming majority of geologists support AGW?
If a geologist bases his response to you on philosophy rather than evidences he isn't conveying science, merely his philosophical postion on a subject. Your misunderstanding of this difference distinguishes the ideologues from those interested in scientific understandings of the world around us.