doctrine Comparison Table

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doctrine comparison table

Subject has author has antonym has formulation date has name origin has synonym has definition

catastrophism uniformitarianism Nineteenth-century hypothesis that depicted the many changes evinced by the geological record as having resulted from cataclysms occurring during a relatively brief period of history.

causality causation The doctrine that every new situation must have resulted from a previous state. Causation underlay the original atomic hypothesis of the Greeks, and was popular in classical physics. It is eroded in quantum mechanics and has, in any case, never been proved essential to the scientific world view. See chance, determinism.

determinism The doctrine that all events are the predictable effects of prior causes.

empiricism An emphasis on sense data as a source of knowledge, in opposition to the rationalist belief that reasoning is superior to experience.

materialism spiritualism Belief that material objects and their interactions constitute the complete reality of all phenomena, including such seemingly insubstantial phenomena as thoughts and dreams. Compare spiritualism.

Occam's Razor William of Ockham fourteenth century Entia non sunt multiplicanda ("Entities are not to be multiplied") Any hypothesis should be shorn of all unnecessary assumptions; if two hypotheses fit the observations equally well, the one that makes the fewest assumptions should be chosen.

uniformitarianism catastrophism The hypothesis that the extensive changes in the earth, as evinced in the geological record, have resulted, not from massive catastrophes, but from the slow operation of wind, weather, volcanism, and the like over many millions of years.

Subject	has author	has antonym	has formulation date	has name origin	has synonym	has definition
catastrophism		uniformitarianism				Nineteenth-century hypothesis that depicted the many changes evinced by the geological record as having resulted from cataclysms occurring during a relatively brief period of history.
causality					causation	The doctrine that every new situation must have resulted from a previous state. Causation underlay the original atomic hypothesis of the Greeks, and was popular in classical physics. It is eroded in quantum mechanics and has, in any case, never been proved essential to the scientific world view. See chance, determinism.
determinism						The doctrine that all events are the predictable effects of prior causes.
empiricism						An emphasis on sense data as a source of knowledge, in opposition to the rationalist belief that reasoning is superior to experience.
materialism		spiritualism				Belief that material objects and their interactions constitute the complete reality of all phenomena, including such seemingly insubstantial phenomena as thoughts and dreams. Compare spiritualism.
Occam's Razor	William of Ockham		fourteenth century	Entia non sunt multiplicanda ("Entities are not to be multiplied")		Any hypothesis should be shorn of all unnecessary assumptions; if two hypotheses fit the observations equally well, the one that makes the fewest assumptions should be chosen.
uniformitarianism		catastrophism				The hypothesis that the extensive changes in the earth, as evinced in the geological record, have resulted, not from massive catastrophes, but from the slow operation of wind, weather, volcanism, and the like over many millions of years.

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