Gradualism, from the Latin ''gradus'' ("step"), is a hypothesis, a theory or a tenet assuming that change comes about gradually or that variation is gradual in nature and happens over time as opposed to in large steps.
Uniformitarianism,
incrementalism
:''In politics, the term "incrementalism" is also used as a synonym for Gradualism.''
Incrementalism is a method of working by adding to a project using many small incremental changes instead of a few (extensively planned) large jumps. Logical ...
, and
reformism are similar concepts.
Geology and biology
In the natural sciences, gradualism is the
theory
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may ...
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
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
and formed the basis of early
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
ary theory.
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
was influenced by Lyell's ''Principles of Geology'', which explained both uniformitarian methodology and theory. Using 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.
Gradualism is often confused with the concept of
phyletic gradualism. It is a term coined by
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould (; September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Goul ...
and
Niles Eldredge to contrast with their model of
punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of ...
, which is gradualist itself, but argues that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability (called stasis), which is punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution.
[Eldredge, Niles, and S. J. Gould (1972)]
"Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism."
In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., ''Models in Paleobiology''. San Francisco: Freeman, Cooper and Company, pp. 82-115.
Politics and society
In
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
, gradualism is the hypothesis that social change can be achieved in small, discrete increments rather than in abrupt strokes such as
revolutions or
uprisings. Gradualism is one of the defining features of political
liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
and
reformism.
Machiavellian politics pushes politicians to espouse gradualism.
In
socialist politics and within the socialist movement, the concept of gradualism is frequently distinguished from reformism, with the former insisting that short-term goals need to be formulated and implemented in such a way that they inevitably lead into long-term goals. It is most commonly associated with the
libertarian socialist concept of dual power and is seen as a middle way between reformism and
revolutionism.
Martin Luther King Jr. was opposed to the idea of gradualism as a method of eliminating
segregation. The United States government wanted to try to integrate
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
s and European-Americans slowly into the same society, but many believed it was a way for the government to put off actually doing anything about racial segregation:
Linguistics and language change
In
linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
,
language change is seen as gradual, the product of chain reactions and subject to
cyclic drift. The view that
creole language
A creole language, or simply creole, is a stable natural language that develops from the simplifying and mixing of different languages into a new one within a fairly brief period of time: often, a pidgin evolved into a full-fledged language. ...
s are the product of
catastrophism is heavily disputed.
Morality
Christianity
Buddhism, Theravada and Yoga
Gradualism is the approach of certain schools of Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies (e.g.
Theravada
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school ...
or
Yoga
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
), that
enlightenment can be achieved step by step, through an arduous practice. The opposite approach, that
insight is attained all at once, is called
subitism
The term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is "sudden," c.q. "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively o ...
. The debate on the issue was very important to the history of the development of
Zen, which rejected gradualism, and to the establishment of the opposite approach within the
Tibetan Buddhism, after the
Debate of Samye. It was continued in other schools of
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
and
Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the " Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural develop ...
.
Types
Phyletic gradualism is a model of
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
which theorizes that most
speciation is slow, uniform and gradual.
[Eldredge, N. and S. J. Gould (1972)]
"Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism"
In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., ''Models in Paleobiology''. San Francisco: Freeman Cooper. p. 84. When evolution occurs in this mode, it is usually by the steady transformation of a whole
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
into a new one (through a process called
anagenesis). In this view no clear line of demarcation exists between an ancestral species and a descendant species, unless
splitting occurs.
Punctuated gradualism
Punctuated gradualism is a microevolutionary hypothesis that refers to a species that has "relative stasis over a considerable part of its total duration ndunderwent periodic, relatively rapid, morphologic change that did not lead to lineage bran ...
is a
microevolution
Microevolution is the change in allele frequencies that occurs over time within a population. This change is due to four different processes: mutation, selection ( natural and artificial), gene flow and genetic drift. This change happens over ...
ary
hypothesis
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
that refers to a species that has "relative stasis over a considerable part of its total duration
ndunderwent periodic, relatively rapid, morphologic change that did not lead to lineage branching". It is one of the three common models of
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
. While the traditional model of palaeontology, the phylogenetic model, states that features evolved slowly without any direct association with speciation, the relatively newer and more controversial idea of
punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of ...
claims that major evolutionary changes don't happen over a gradual period but in localized, rare, rapid events of branching speciation. Punctuated gradualism is considered to be a variation of these models, lying somewhere in between the
phyletic gradualism model and the punctuated equilibrium model. It states that speciation is not needed for a lineage to rapidly evolve from one equilibrium to another but may show rapid transitions between long-stable states.
Contradictorial gradualism is the paraconsistent treatment of
fuzziness developed by
Lorenzo Peña
Lorenzo Peña (born August 29, 1944) is a Spanish philosopher, lawyer, logician and political thinker. His rationalism is a neo-Leibnizian approach both in metaphysics and law.
Life
Lorenzo Peña was born in Alicante, Spain, on August 29, ...
which regards true contradictions as situations wherein a state of affairs enjoys only partial existence.
Gradualism in
social change
Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations.
Definition
Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or soci ...
implemented through
reformist means is a moral principle to which the
Fabian Society is committed. In a more general way,
reformism is the assumption that gradual changes through and within existing institutions can ultimately change a
society
A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soc ...
's fundamental
economic system and political structures; and that an accumulation of reforms can lead to the emergence of an entirely different economic system and form of society than present-day
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
. That hypothesis of social change grew out of opposition to
revolutionary socialism
Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...
, which contends that
revolution is necessary for fundamental structural changes to occur.
In the terminology of
NWO-related speculations, gradualism refers to the gradual implementation of a
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and reg ...
world government
World government is the concept of a single political authority with jurisdiction over all humanity. It is conceived in a variety of forms, from tyrannical to democratic, which reflects its wide array of proponents and detractors.
A world gove ...
.
See also
*
Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
*
Uniformitarianism
*
Incrementalism
:''In politics, the term "incrementalism" is also used as a synonym for Gradualism.''
Incrementalism is a method of working by adding to a project using many small incremental changes instead of a few (extensively planned) large jumps. Logical ...
*
Normalization (sociology)
*
Reformism
*
Catastrophism
*
Saltation
*
Punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of ...
*
Accelerationism
References
{{reflist, group=web
Geology theories
Rate of evolution
Liberalism
Social democracy
Historical linguistics
Social theories