Geology Reference
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priori
argument. In my favorite passage, Hutton tells us why final cause
requires restoration and cyclicity:
This is the view in which we are now to examine the globe: to see if there be,
in the constitution of this world, a reproductive operation by which a ruined
constitution may be again repaired, and a duration or stability thus procured
to the machine, considered as a world sustaining plants and animals.
If no such reproductive power, or reforming operation, after due enquiry, is
to be found in the constitution of this world, we should have reason to
conclude, that the system of this earth has either been intentionally made
imperfect, or has not been the work of infinite power and wisdom. (1788,
216)
The
a priori
character of cyclicity and deep time inheres just as strongly in
Mutton's attitude toward mechanisms, or efficient causes. The earth requires
a restorative force to fulfill its purpose as an abode for life, but how does
uplift occur? I discussed the mechanics of Hutton's cycle earlier in this
chapter, but what led him to a theory of this kind, or to a notion of self-
sustaining cycling at all, since he didn't just see cycles in the field?
The sources of Hutton's world machine are complex, but one influence stands
out in his writing. The light of Newton's triumph continued to shine brightly,
and the union of other disciplines with the majesty of his vision remained a
dream of science at its best. Hutton yearned to read time as Newton had
reconstructed space. If the apparent messiness of complex history could be
ordered as a stately cycle of strictly repeating events, then the making and
unmaking of continents might become as lawlike as the revolution of planets.
Hutton's world machine is Newton's cosmos read as repeating order through
time. The discovery of a restorative force, Hutton argues, fixes the analogy
and guarantees time without limit to the earth under its current management
of natural law: "When he finds that there are means wisely provided for the
renovation of this necessarily decaying part, as well as that of every other, he
then,
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