Types of the Methodological Paradigms in Geology

Abstract

The categories of paradigm and of revolution according to Polikarov (1993) are applied to the history of the methodology of geology. Three paradigms are distinguished: 1" the system o f the Earth created by James Hutton; 2" Charles Lyell’s uniformitarianism as a complex and developed structure; 3" the modified principle of geological actualism. Changes o f succesive methodological paradigms in geology were revolutionary in their character. The following kinds of revolutions are distinguished. The establishment of the Huttonian theory of the Earth, regarded as the fundamental theoretical system, was the first. Transitions from the paradigm 1" to 2" and from the paradigm 2U to 3° are considered as revolutions, although with considerable continuity namely the principle of actualism was common for the paradigms l"-3° though the meaning of this term was different at different times.