How many times have you heard someone say...
"I don't believe in evolution. It's only theory."
Now there are two critical problems with this response. The first is that evolution is a scientific principle, and therefore not something that is believed in. It is accepted, or dismissed.
The second problem comes from the use of the word theory in an improper form.
Theory is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as:
1.) A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypothesis that has been confirmed or established by observation or experiment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be the general laws, principles, or causes of something known or observed.
2.) A hypothesis proposed as an explanation; hence, a mere hypothesis, speculation, conjecture; an idea or set of ideas about something; an individual view or notion.
Scientists say theory and mean definition one. In common speech, as in the response above, people imply the second definition.
This is a problem, because in science, there are many other theories we readily accept as facts, but yet are unable to do so with Evolution. So...
What other theories are there in science that we readily accept?
The Theory of Gravity
The Atomic Theory
Despite all these theories we have come to accept as facts, one fact keeps getting pushed aside, most often for religious reasons. And that is of course...
The Theory of Evolution
No comments:
Post a Comment