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Abstract
This paper presents an analysis of the most remarkable epistemological features of the works of James Hutton (1785) and Charles Lyell (1830) considered the fathers of modern geology by most of the geological community. By implementing new methods to analyze the geological phenomena, their theories changed for good this science and the view of time that was accepted back then. They systematically applied, as a conjecture, the principle of uniformity of nature (PUN) to the explanation of the earth dynamics, obtaining with this, among other things, a change from a short biblical time to a deep time of unimaginable extent. This paper shows what they wanted to explain and how they did it, that is to say, the methods, assumptions, believes, and motivations on which these authors structured their explanations of the geological phenomena. This analysis, necessary to understand the origin of the arguments which supported the upbringing of modern geology, facilitates its teaching and learning and the comprehension of its development.
References
Hubbert, M. K. (1967). “Critique of the principle of uniformity”. New York: Special Paper N° 89 of the Geological Society of America. Págs. 3-33. Cito de acuerdo con mi propia traducción.
Hutton, J. (1785). Theory of the Earth; or an investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe. Member of the Royal Academy of Agriculture at Paris. Cito de acuerdo con mi propia traducción.
Lyell, C. (1830). Principles of Geology. Being an attempt to explain the former changes of the earth’s surface. London: John Murria. Cito de acuerdo con mi propia traducción.
