Can you prove evolution?

Question

Not according to my biology professor and my psych professor. They say we should never say a study/experiment has proven something because experiments just support theories/hypotheses and not prove them.

My Bio-prof said science is always self correcting, always revising what they had found, making it more precise or even disproving itself. He said that you can never have an absolute truth except in math(2+2=7...I mean 4...) than you can only have an approximate truth.

Just thought I would share his point of view on the word prove...what do you think about it?

Did anyone read my question? chastising me how I don't understand scientific theories because you can't prove them........

You need to learn to read the add details...

Peter, I'm NOT saying that evolution isn't supported but it hasn't been proven...

Anyway, my Psych teacher was talking about studies, surveys, etc. being done and that no matter how many we do we can never proove something, just support it.

Answer 1

Would it make any difference?

Answer 2

The thing with science is - it isn't an exact science! It's all based on experiments and conjectures. Evidence might all seem to be pointing toward one thing and after a while it turns out everyone has been wrong. That's just the way it is. Occasionally there may be a scientific law that seems almost 100% sure, but even those have a shadow of a doubt. As such, there's no way to "prove" or "disprove" a scientific theory, any more than you can prove or disprove a religion. So I think your professor is right. Even if evolution is true, there's no way to prove it as an absolute truth. Remember, it wasn't that long ago the respected scientific community believed the earth was flat and old shirts spontaneously generated mice!

Answer 3

That's true. There is no absolute truth in science except in Math, because mathematicians create their own universe.

The best we can do is create theories that account for observed facts (in this case, evolution), and make accurate predictions.
Even if a theory fits all of these requirements (meaning, it is a scientific theory), it cannot be absolutely proven right.
Another requirement for a scientific theory is that it should be possible to prove it wrong (in this case, finding a fossil that completely overturns everything we know, which has not happened).

The theory of evolution is at least as stable a theory as General Relativity. That makes it an excellent scientific theory.
Can we prove it is absolutely right? Never.
Can we prove it is wrong? Theoretically yes, not likely at all.

The most probable future of the theory of evolution is that we'll find fossils that will improve a little bit our understanding of it, and possibly require us to modify it slightly.

Check the link below for more information.

Answer 4

Your prof is technically correct. However, when a theory is supported by so much solid evidence that it is 99.99999% proven, even though not "absolutely proven", it is logically sound to treat it as fact for all practical purposes. That's how the existence of atoms - technically a "theory" - can serve as the foundation of all science.

Answer 5

We will prove evolution once we work out the complete genome of different species.

Look at the caterpillar and the butterfly. Don't you think Noah would think they are two completely different "kinds" of animals? Of course you and I know this is called metamorphosis. The DNA is not changed. Only some enzymes are activated and others suppressed. We get two body forms from only on set of DNA. Much of the genome do not code for anything. Maybe those DNA segment have be knock-outed by evolution.

Answer 6

First off, I like the person who posted we can't prove gravity. I just about fell out of my chair when I read it (just couldn't becaus that would be gravity).

You're bio professor is right....expiriments don't "prove", they "support", which leads to further expiriments.

Only problem with evolution...I'm waiting to see the expiriments that will come forth to support the theory.

(ducks, because he knows he's going to hear about fossils, etc - but not about expiriments).

Now...if evols want to postulate about expiriments..post them as questions so we can discuss each one. But please provide supporting evidence we can review, and not "there was an expiriment done back in the 60s" because there is no way to review that.

I mean, we're all after the same thing right? Intellectual honesty and critical thinking?

Answer 7

That's very true! But evolution is supported by many many facts! The only problem is, sometimes these facts are wrong and scientists keep changing things that they claimed were absolutely right! Not that it means evolution is wrong and doesn't happen, I just don't think any of us will really ever be able to understand it! Check out this article....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20178936/

I've heard so many people boast about how the evolutionary tree is soooo right and wanted to kill anyone who criticized it...now this article calls it a mess! What are we supposed to believe?

Answer 8

what you say via your profs make complety sense to me.

a theory is a description of (a part of) reality. a theory approximates reality.

take for instance formulas in physical laws, there are constants in it , that cant be measured with an infinite resolution , even without inaccuracy in the these conststant, the formula itself can be inaccurate , the success of the theory depends on how well it can predict the outcome of events/experiments.

in math one starts of with axiomas. these are unproven facts that are consistent together.(note that these axiaomas are arbitrary !) by combining these axiomas a theory is build. this kind of theory is very different than a theory in say biology. A theory in math does not approximates a reality.

nuf said.

Answer 9

your professors are very smart people, you should listen to them. you cannot prove evolution, there is only evidence for it. science lives and breathes and is constantly being changed as we learn more...that's what makes it science!

some things like gravity, we take for granted and call them law. you can't prove gravity, you can only observe it over and over. using the law and assuming it's correct, we can prove other things, and these things are *proven* under the assumption that gravity as we know it is correct. it we learned something new about gravity, well then, we'd have a lot of revisions to be made.

unfortunately for the theory of evolution, we cannot test it, we can only observe small pieces at a time.

Answer 10

No, your professors are right. You can only do so many experiments and studies that you are 99.999999...% sure maybe, but never 100%. Evolution is one of the trickiest theories however, as it cannot be tested in real time (due to it being a process happening over millions of years). However, study of biological evidence (DNA and structural similarities b/w species, etc) and fossil records strongly supports it. But proof, no. There is always something we might not know yet, however unlikely.

Answer 11

yes, technically we can't prove things like theories in science. A better way to put it is "very well supported theory". This of course, could be described as "basically proven" in layman's terms.