What do you think of certain people saying that evolution is "just a theory"?

Question

I'm not going to point these people out, but there are quite a few of them. They say that their book holds the answers to everything and that science is a religion that makes stuff up but can't prove it. What are your thoughts on this?

Answer 1

People who say that evolution is "just a theory" don't really understand the scientific meaning of the word "theory". What those people think "theory" means is actually closer to the definition of "hypothesis". There is a huge amount of evidence to support the theory of evolution. Too many people believe they will go to hell if they question anything that their church tells them. If it is wrong to question what you believe and test it, then why did God give us a logical mind and analytical thought? Shouldn't He have just made us all mindless robots that follow His every command without a thought? I don't believe that evolution disproves the existence of God, but it certainly does challenge the oversimplified religious interpretation of the beginnings of life. When Christians are so narrow-minded that they are willing to ignore mountains of scientific evidence, they undermine their own credibility. DNA evidence, archeology, paleontology, and geology all offer reasonable evidence that species have changed over time. Because single celled organisms divide so quickly, microbiologists can actually see the changes as they occur. Antibiotic resistance is a perfect example of natural selection in microorganisms. Evolution is here to stay, so everyone might as well get used to it.

Answer 2

I would say that they are correct Evolution is "Just a Theory", it is however, one onf the most Logical theories explaining life on Earth. Science does "make things up" but it also does it's best to prove these things either false or true. Sometomes a things "truth" can only be explained as far as current technologies provide the possibilities for. I also suppose that it can be said that Science is a religion as well. Only in the fact the by the laws of Physical Science anything that does not have energy or matter of its own and that con not be detected by instrument does not exist, therefore The laws of Science exist only in our minds and so it must be said are a matter of faith. The only issue with this is that "Faith" is not the determining factor as to what will happen if I drop something. It's going to hit the ground whether i believe it will or not. Anyway, Science is an observation of the world we live in, not a fanciful, metaphorical human attempt at explaining the world we live in. That "Good Book" you mention is just that... a good book. It is chock full of great life lessons, and guidelines for the running of a civilization that keeps the people "Good". However when one wants to declare it as literal "Truth" one must then compare its observable facts to those observable facts we already know to be true beyond the shadow of a logical doubt. In which case it pales in comparison with the main body of Traditional Western Science. But none of this matters because when "Faith" is involved, no matter what that faith is placed in the faith always wins out in the minds of the faithful.

Answer 3

Those people who say that evolution is "just a theory", meaning that it is no more than a guess and therefore can be ignored, either are unaware of or are deliberately ignoring the
difference between scientific and vernacular use of the term
theory. In ordinary common speech when someone says "I
have a theory", or "that's just a theory" the meaning of theory
is "a guess". In science a theory, such as the Atomic Theory
or the Theory of Gravity or Evolutionary Theory, means an
idea that has been repeatedly tested and always substantiated, not refuted. The scientific term for a guess
is "a hypothesis". Scientists create hypotheses in large
numbers. When tested many, perhaps most, of them turn out
to be wrong and have to be discarded. Those that survive
are tested some more and may finally attain the status of a
theory, which is coming close to what we sometimes also call a law of nature, which is simply a statement of what happens
under a certain set of conditions. As for science not being
able to prove evolution, no claim to final proof was ever made. Science does not provide final proofs of anything.
It does provide genuine evidence, which is more than can be
said for the hearsay, myth and probable outright invention that
characterizes the various "holy" books of the world.

Answer 4

On the contrary is is not just a theory and has scientific proof to back it. Now, I am not saying we came from monkeys or anything like that. And I am leaving my personal beliefs of where we came from out of this. But the question is "What do you think of certain people saying that evolution is "just a theory"?" Evolution has been proven to be true to a certain time. Before that time frame nothing is certain. But, for an example. Humans pinkie fingers are getting smaller and smaller because of lack of function. There are many little things such as that which have scientific FACT behind them thus proving evolution to be FACT. As a solution to the age old question of where we come from however it is just a THEORY. But then again so is intelligent design and all the other possibilities.

Answer 5

well I always wondered why it was a theory and not a law so I googled it

The current consensus among philosophers of science seems to be this:

Laws are generalizations about what has happened, from which we can generalize about what we expect to happen. They pertain to observational data. The ability of the ancients to predict eclipses had nothing to do with whether they knew just how they happened; they had a law but not a theory.

Theories are explanations of observations (or of laws). The fact that we have a pretty good understanding of how stars explode doesn't necessarily mean we could predict the next supernova; we have a theory but not a law.

**not like I am a scientist and this means much to me**

Answer 6

Evolution is just a theory. Everything in science is just a theory. It is only loosely called a "law" after hundreds of experiments have been executed, all bearing the same results.

To me, it's obvious that you're seeking a fight. Stop it. You're never going to convert believers to your way of thinking, just like they'll never convert you to theirs.

I'd appreciate if people would stop throwing around scientific theories like they're infallible, when experts barely grasp the concepts themselves. There is still so much to learn about evolution.

Science isn't there to fight God or religion. It's unbiased, and it should stay that way. So please, don't use science as a weapon. It's a tool for understanding and learning, not for attacking other's beliefs.

Answer 7

They don't know what a theory is.

I H8 Space would you please tell everyone here what causes gravity? If we you know so much about it I am sure you can create it or better yet make an anti gravity device. You need to stop being a loud mouthed bully and tone it down.

Answer 8

We all know that the evolution theory is the evolution theory and we know that evolution is much more than this spoken evolution theory. I think that all people are wise when they recognize this.

Answer 9

Everything in science is a theory. That's the nature of the scientific method. Even scientific "laws" like the law of gravity are just theories. It just happens to be a theory most of us are pretty comfortable with and happens to have a lot of good evidence backing it up and no hard evidence disputing it.

Kind of like the theory of evolution.

Answer 10

The scientific community and public school textbooks call it the theory of evolution. Yes it is a theory. It is not scientific law.