Why can't people realize that evolution is a theory and not a fact?

Question

If we picked on Darwinism the same way believers in darwinism picked on religion, you'd probably cry

Answer 1

A scientific theory IS a fact.

Or does the fact that the theory of gravity is a 'theory' mean that gravity is not a fact? Or does it just mean that the way we understand gravity is known to be incomplete?

And yes, gravity is a fact, in effect, and a theory, in understanding.

The best understanding of gravity is the theory of relativity, however, we know it's wrong because it cannot be reconciled with quantum gravity. We just haven't figured out how to formulate quantum gravity so we're stuck with the theory of relativity for now.

Funny, I'm still feeling a force towards the center of the earth at 9.8m/(s^2).

Answer 2

I wouldn't cry because the two issues are not even related. You can still believe in your religion despite accepting that evolution occurs and is the reason for such a diverse range of species on this planet. Believing in the creation story doesn't require anyone to provide evidence, it just requires belief and faith. It is a religious belief, a spiritual one, and that is fine.

Evolution occurs whether anyone likes it or not, whether you believe in it or not, it occurs regardless of what you believe about it. Just like 1 + 1 = 2 and the Earth revolves around the Sun (despite the bible saying that the sun rotates around the Earth). Anyway, some things are just objective observations of natural occurances, and evolution happens before our eyes and we have seen the evidence for it through genetic studies and fossil evidence. In science, something starts out as a hypothesis, once it has been proved a few times and never disproved, it becomes a theory. Eventually, when more evidence mounts, it becomes a principle or a fact. Thus far, after many studies, the theory of evolution has held up its validity, never once being disproved. Eventually it will be the principle of evolution... something that is just accepted as fact.

I know I won't change your mind with evidence, but maybe you could just accept that some things are a scientific matter and others are a matter of belief and faith, and the two should not compete with one another. Even if it the science negates what is written in the bible, it doesn't mean that you HAVE to stop believing what you believe, though you should accept that one this is valid science while the other is just a religious book about how to love God and is not a scientific manual.

Answer 3

People do pick on Darwinism just as much as much as religion. There will always be groups of individuals that believe so strongly in an idea that they cannot fathom some other possible solution.

Whether you believe in a god creating all things or not is really not the point of evolution. Evolution only addresses the changes in species throughout time, it doesn't state who or what created the matter we all come from because that is a question that no one really knows the answer to.

Evolution is factual and the progress of man, plants and animals can be seen in any natural history museum around the world.

Answer 4

For one, there is no such thing as 'Darwinism'. This is a derisive neologism. Darwin only started the idea of evolution; he is not some patriarchal master of the theory. The theory that Darwin posited is not even held by science today, because we understand so much more than he did.

However, it seems like you do not understand what a theory is. A theory is a framework explanation built upon evidence; it is there to explain evidence that exists, as opposed to a belief, which is a framework explanation without any evidence.

As scientist Stephen Jay Gould explains, "evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome.... In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms."

Answer 5

Sir (or madame), the theory of evolution doesn't pick on religion, some of the people who believe in it do. However, evolution doesn't disagree with religion, if we all believe that God made us then who cares how long he took? Don't take the Bible litterally, what is a day to God? For all we know a day could be a millinia! you cannot know the mind of God.
Also, it is considered a theory. It happens to be an extremely believable and likely theory, nothing in science is a proven fact. But nothing can really be proven 100% in anything so I wouldn't ask for proof. Creationism (meaning, poof we're here, not that it took years for us to build to this) is a theory as well.

And nobody's crying.

(side note to jonjon418: religion (in Christianity anyway) says things happened a certain way but people can interpret things badly, don't base your judgements of a religion on the obvious nutcases)

Answer 6

First off, it's not "Darwinism." That's just the religious smear for evolution theory. You're trying to rhetorically place it on a level with "Creationism."

But actually, that's exactly the difference between science and religion. An "ism" is a "belief system" requiring "faith." Science asks no such thing. The scientist reviews the evidence at hand and draws logical conclusions therefrom, and the sum of those conclusions, at present, is encapsulated in evolution theory.

Religion, meanwhile, begins by saying "This is the way it is. Any deviation herefrom is not merely wrong, but blasphemous." No room for progress. You have to take it as it stands, "on faith," and you have to serially disregard or explain away any conflicting evidence.

Science is ALL ABOUT correcting its own observations. That's how we arrived at evolution theory! Sure, there are individual scientists who become dogmatic about their own pet theories, but science as a discipline is in a constant state of flux. In fact, the greatest scientific discoveries are precisely those which demand an entirely new concept of the universe.

It's natural that you, religious person that you evidently are in asking this sort of question, would presume that science is in the same defensive position as religion with regard to progress. But it's not. The fact that science, which makes no pretense of omniscience, reserves the right to correct its observations as warranted, is its strength, not its weakness.

(I've cut and pasted much of this from my last response to the last religious freak who tried to attack "Darwinism" on these spurious grounds.)

Answer 7

Scientific theories are backed up by facts.
There is no absolute truth, not even in science. That's why Gravity is considered a "theory" as well. Gravity, like evolution, is a scientific theory, and both are backed up by the observable, empirical evidence that surround us. Unlike religion, which is not backed up by any kind of empirical evidence.


From Wikipedia:

"In science, a theory is a proposed description, explanation, or model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise falsified through empirical observation. It follows from this that for scientists "theory" and "fact" do not necessarily stand in opposition. For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theory which explains why the apple behaves so is the current theory of gravitation."

Likewise, the existance of ancestors to the human being is a fact. There are fossils of australopithecus, of homo erectus, of the first hominids. Accordingly, there are also fossils of the first mammals, and of the first amphibians. There are species of fish, some of them still living today (such as the Coelacanth), that have lungs, and have leg-like fins that allow them to get out of the water.
These creatures prove the connection between fish and amphibians, and so, prove that evolution is a true theory as pertaining to the scientific field.

You can believe whatever you want. But, without empirical evidence, you don't get to deny science.
Evolution is a PROVEN THEORY, what gives to it the status of "empirical truth".
Unlike creationism, evolution is based on evidence.
That means that, unless you have a concrete evidence that shows that evolution is not true, I suggest you shut up and try to learn a bit before rambling against people that have dedicated their entire lives, spending countless years studying numerous disciplines to reach their conclusions.
Religion should adapt to science, and not otherwise.

Answer 8

Do you actually know the difference between a hypothesis and a theory? The world is flat was a hypothesis. It wasn't backed up with any science. Gravity is a theory. It is backed up with science. The earth being the center of the universe was a hypothesis. Time travel and relativity is a theory. Evolution is a theory because there is significant evidence and observation to back it up. And it is a theory because it was the only hypothesis that had any science to back it.

Answer 9

Evolution is a theory based upon facts. This is not to state that it is a fact, but rather that it the best (perhaps only) theoretical conclusion one could arrive at if one is limited to scientific facts.

The Intelligent Design theory, for instance is not a scientific theory, simply because it is not limited to scientific facts.

This is not to say that the I.D. theory can not be true, but merely that it is not scientific. The presupposition of most religious beliefs is that god(s) exist and operate outside of the physical laws of the universe (even if they also exist/operate within these laws) - hence the concept/doctrine of transcendence and immanence.

Answer 10

Why must people use the word "theory" as if it meant "hypothesis"? If something's a theory, it's to explain fact.

You might as well ask, "Why can't people realize that gravity is a theory and not a fact?"

And what exactly is Darwinism? I've never heard of that religion/philosophy.