If evolution is a fact, why is it still called the Theory of evolution?

Question

What exactly is the theory of evoltion, does it really state humans evolved from monkey,apes or primates?And if the creation theroy is completely wrong why are so many threaten by it?

Answer 1

A "theory" in science is different from a "theory" in everyday usage. Scientific theories are used to EXPLAIN facts. It doesn't mean just a guess like it means everywhere else.

And the fact that creationism is completely wrong is the exact reason WHY people feel threatened by it. You don't want your kids learning blatant misinformation, do you? I'd feel the same way if there was a movement to teach our kids that the Earth is flat, or that the Holocaust never happened, or that 9/11 was an inside job. When you're teaching kids stuff that is just flat-out wrong, I think people have a good reason to get concerned about it.

Answer 2

If someone has told you Evolution was a fact, they don't know what they are saying. Evolution is still only a theory. The reason it has not been elevated to a fact - is because there is evidence that tends to contradict it, and the strongest evidence of speciation (namely the fossil record) is either lacking or prone to miss-interpretation. Take the Ceolocanth for example - instead of being an extinct shallow water transitional fish, it is a still living deep water marine species.

Evolution does not directly state that humans evolved from apes, but the nature of the theory - that many small changes over a long time can lead to drastic differences between the original and the end product. Given genetic evidence, the fossil record, and documented records of how human populations have changed even as recently as within the last 100 years - it's not unimaginable to believe our ancestors might once have resembled something like chimpanzees.

Lastly creationism doesn't even deserve to be considered a theory. What makes a theory such - is that it is based on observation and can be tested. Darwin formulated the idea of evolution by observing fossils and living creatures across South America. He then observed similar, but more specialized animals living on each of the Galapogos islands. Since Darwins time, scientists have continued to observe minute changes within different populations of animals large and small - and in some cases have been able to devise experiments which test that theory. Creationism by contrast relies on faith rather than direct observation, and discounts nearly every valid observation or test that provides contrary evidence. The act of creation has never been observed (except perhaps by Adam) and reading the bible does not count as observation.

Answer 3

"why is it still called the Theory of evolution?"

Because Theory in the scientific sense is not the same as the social usage.

There is also the General theory of Relativity and the Theory of electromagnetism. Surely you would agree that gravity exists and magnets stick to your fridge right?


"And if the creation theroy is completely wrong why are so many threaten by it?"

Creationism is not a scientific theory; never has been and never will be. At best it would be considered a hypothesis, but myth is far more accurate.

Why are some people so threatened? Because the perpetuation of ignorance only does the human race a great disservice. Would you be comfortable if everyone believed that disease was caused by evil spirits, instead of viruses and bacteria?

You can see the harm that would cause can't you?

Answer 4

It is true that a "theory" in the scientific sense of the word is completely different than the word used in everyday language. Just as there are differences in how the word is used even within the various sciences or mathematics.

However, to say that evolution is a proven fact is also a bit ignorant. I'm surprised how many people are so passionate that evolution is a fact...and yet they almost know nothing about the subject. I believe at the heart of the issue is that most people could not accept creationism...even if it were to be proven true. Introducing such an idea into science would automatically destroy most peoples world view and view of themselves and there would be things beyond the scope of the world that they would have to deal with.

I'm not saying one theory is correct.......but I've studied enough of both to say that the answer is far from being clear or settled. So since most people are dogmatic evolutionists....I'll just say there is a lot of material out there that poses problems to the theory of evolution written by some of the top physicists in the world.

Answer 5

Both evolution and creationism/intelligent design are theories. Neither can ever be proved to be indisputable laws, because it is impossible to obtain imperical evidence. Simply put, no one alive today was there a million years ago, so we just don't know for sure. We can't recreate the whole thing in a lab and test it... we can only gather all the evidence and pick the best and most reasonable explanation for that evidence.

Evolution says that humans share a common ancestor with other primates - we did not "come from" monkeys, we all came from the same homonid creature. (Just like you are very different from your cousins, even though you share the same grandmother.) And over millions of years, humans and monkeys kept getting more and more different. And evolution applies to a lot more than humans and primates... it explains how ALL living creatures diversified and changed over millions and millions of years.

Read the literature carefully - Evolution is a scientific THEORY supported by FACTS. Creationism is a religious THEORY supported by BELIEF. Intelligent design is an attempt to combine both theories using both facts and belief. It is entirely up to what you want to accept... but we should allow everyone that same courtesy, and not insist that any one theory be presented as the only right answer.

Answer 6

Evolution is demonstrated. It is called a theory because it is a tested hypothesis. Scince never considers anything fully proven because the nature of science is investigation and logic. Evolution states that every living thing evolved from simpler forms. All primates (including monkeys, apes and humans) evolved from a common ancestor which was not a primate, but had a few features of one. There is no creation theory, only doctrine. Evolution is not threatened by Creationism. "Scientific" Creationism (which is not scientific) was devised because evolution contradicts a literal reading of the Bible. It is the Creationists who feel threatened, and there aren't that many of them; they are just very loud.

Answer 7

Because "theory" does not mean the same thing to scientists that it does to laypeople. Laypeople tend to think the word "theory" means something akin to wild idea, speculation, or hypothesis. However that is not what theories mean in science.

A scientific theory is more like a framework of related rules and reasons that explain the behaviour of natural systems, and which accords with all known observations of the system in question.

Here are some examples of scientific theories:

- The theory of gravity
- The theory of relativity
- Music theory (familiar to any trained musician.)

You can see that these 'theories' are not theories in the colloquial sense of being random speculation. They are both theories and fact. The same goes for evolution.

As to the theory of evolution, it isn't specifically a theory about the origin of humans (although humans of course are subject to the same principles, and a proto-chimpanzee of some sort is the likely candidate for a common ancestor between humans and other apes.)

The theory of evolution postulates that:

- Not all animals can survive to reproduce, or we would witness a Malthusian explosion of the population of every species.
- Those animals that do survive to reproduce will be the ones that propagate their unique characteristics forward to descendants.
- The characteristics of these hardy organisms, over time, accumulate in sufficient quantity that earlier species lead to diverse and better adapted later species.

There are currently no scientifically posed alternatives to this theory. "Creation theory" is not a scientific theory, because scientific theories explain the behaviour of natural systems through natural means. Supernatural explanations, by definition, come from a realm other than science. They play no role in science as a result.

Answer 8

Learn what the word theory means in the context of science and then you will understand. Why are people threatened by creation you ask. Well if everyone believed every fable that they heard the world would be in disarray and society wouldn't be able to advance. Oh, wait that is what is happening today.

Answer 9

A theory only attempts to explain something as it does not meet the scientific requirement of fact which must be demonstrable under fixed circumstances and repeatable. Many don't even see how the theory of evolution not only has changed over time but is not the same among scientists. This is why its a theory or one "possible" explanation.

Answer 10

Just because its a theory is a theory doesn't mean its wrong.
You say that a theory is not a fact?
Well, go try that with the theory of gravity and let me have the results.

The creation theory is not science, its faith. All of their evidence came from the Bible--not exactly the best science book. The scientific community is not threatened by it, as so few of them give this theory credibility, and none on a scientific basis. It is the public that is threatened, because if they can teach this false theory, they can teach more and more and more and more until we are so far from the truth we think wearing underwear on our heads makes us fly. It is a battle between public truth and public falsehood.