Fact and theory

Dizzy has sparked off a vigorous debate about - well it started off about evolution - the scientific method.

Anyway I was attacked for declaring that

"Evolution is a FACT. End of story. The evidence for it is huge, massive AND incontrovertible"

The other person replied:

"did you take this from another debate and change MMGW to evolution ?..... that line of 'debate' is so familiar."

What is sad is that so many people mistake observations and theory.

Global warming is an observable fact - the ice caps are melting.

But what is the explanation?

The current theory is that human activity is responsible for the observable fact. The point about a scientific theory is that it is the best current explanation for a series of observations. However, theories can change with greater evidence and can even be discarded if they don't fit observations.

Examples of this abound - the fact that Newton's laws didn't account for slight discrepencies in the orbit of Mercury and that modification were required to the theory is an absolute classic.

But it's only a theory

Given the possibility of an acknowledged creationist becoming vice-president, the normal cry about evolution will be heard even more by those who see her appointment as strengthening their position.

"But its only a theory" goes the cry.

Lets nail that one on its head once and for all.

Ignoring that there are many theories in science that the creationists seem to ignore (Quantum Theory, Theory of Relativity amongst others) since they either don't understand them or just don't fit into their world view, it must be emphasisied that the word "theory" itself causes the problems.

In everyday use, a theory is better than a guess or a hunch but not much better but the word in science means something much much stronger.

A scientific theory is the explanatory model that best explains a natural phenonema. A scientific theory can be tested against known facts - and can be modified if found wanting. A lot of scientific laws are in fact theories.

An example of the latter is Newton's Laws of Gravity... These survived until Einstein's Theory of Relativity (note the change from Law to Theory!)

Evolution is a scientific theory ... it best explains how life changed on ths planet...