Gradualism is the belief that changes occur, or ought to occur, slowly in the form of gradual steps (see also incrementalism) This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

Politics and society

In politics, the concept of gradualism is used to describe the belief that public policy ought to be modified in small, discrete increments rather than abrubt changes such as revolutions or uprisings. Gradualism is one of the defining features of political conservatism and reformism. Congressmen are pushed to agree to gradualism according to Machiavellan politics. Martin Luther King Jr. was opposed to the idea of Gradualism in the 1960's. The government wanted to slowly try to integrate Africans and Caucasians into the same society, but many African-Americans believed it was a way for the government to put off actually doing anything about racial segregation: Politics is the process by which groups make decisions. ... Public policy is a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a problem. ... The storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789 during the French Revolution. ... Look up rebellion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Conservatism is a relativistic term used to describe political philosophies that favor traditional values, where tradition refers to religious, cultural, or nationally defined beliefs and customs. ... Reformism (also called revisionism or revisionist theory) is the belief that gradual changes in a society can ultimately change its fundamental structures. ...

"This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy." Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream delivered August 28th, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC

Geology and biology

In the natural sciences, gradualism is a theory which holds that profound change is the cumulative product of slow but continuous processes, often contrasted with catastrophism. The theory was proposed in 1795 by James Hutton, a Scottish geologist, and was later incorporated into Charles Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism. Tenets from both theories were applied to biology and formed the basis of early evolutionary theory. The word theory has a number of distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. ... Catastrophism is the theory that Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... this dude has a HUGE nose James Hutton, painted by Abner Lowe. ... Charles Lyell The frontispiece from Principles of Geology Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, KT, (November 14, 1797 – February 22, 1875), Scottish lawyer, geologist, and populariser of uniformitarianism. ... Uniformitarianism, in the philosophy of science, is the assumption that the natural processes operating in the past are the same as those that can be observed operating in the present. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article is about evolution in biology. ...

Charles Darwin was influenced by Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, which explained both uniformitarian methodology and theory. Using methodological uniformitarianism, which states that one cannot make an appeal to any force or phenomenon which cannot presently be observed (see catastrophism), Darwin theorized that the evolutionary process must occur gradually, not in saltations, since saltations are not presently observed, and extreme deviations from the usual phenotypic variation would be more likely to be selected against. For other people of the same surname, and places and things named after Charles Darwin, see Darwin. ... Charles Lyell The frontispiece from Principles of Geology Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, KT, (November 14, 1797 – February 22, 1875), Scottish lawyer, geologist, and populariser of uniformitarianism. ... Catastrophism is the theory that Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope. ... In biology, saltation (from Latin, saltus, leap) is a sudden change from one generation to the next, that is large, or very large, in comparison with the usual variation of an organism. ...

Gradualism is often confused with the concept of phyletic gradualism, a term coined by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge to contrast with their concept of Punctuated equilibrium, which is gradualist itself (but accepts that saltation can occur, even though it is not a necessary mechanism nor the main point). Phyletic gradualism is a macroevolutionary hypothesis rooted in uniformitarianism. ... It has been suggested that Darwinian Fundamentalism be merged into this article or section. ... Dr. Niles Eldredge (born August 25, 1943) is an American paleontologist, who, along with Stephen Jay Gould, proposed the theory of punctuated equilibrium in 1972. ... Punctuated equilibrium (or punctuated equilibria) is a theory in evolutionary biology which states that most sexually reproducing species will show little to no evolutionary change throughout their history. ... In biology, saltation (from Latin, saltus, leap) is a sudden change from one generation to the next, that is large, or very large, in comparison with the usual variation of an organism. ...