I take it back, you must have flunked every science course you ever took. The basic concepts of science should have been taught in High School, actually I got it in the 5th grade: it was a basic science course.
Originally Posted by JRLawrence
https://www.discovery.org/a/6401/#question3
Is "Evolution", a "Theory", or a "Fact", or is this just a game of trivial Semantics?
I'm guessing in the case of JR, it is the latter. But I recognize that strong impulse in people like JR who would sooner cut off their arm than admit that what he believes could be wrong. Or that there is more than one answer to the question.
This is a interesting read with actual scientists arguing that something can't be a fact and a theory at the same time and other equally brilliant people saying "Oh, yes it can".
There is in here if you care to see it, that when defining the word evolution, there is at least one definition that can be presented as scientific fact and other definitions of the word that can not. JR obviously favors the ones that do not.
Many members of the general public who are skeptics of Darwinian evolution are intelligent people with a decent understanding of some of the scientific weaknesses with neo-Darwinian evolution. In fact, a recent article in The Scientist suggests that, “public discontent with classical evolution as an inclusive theory stems partly from an intuitive appreciation of its limits.” (Eric Smith, “Before Darwin,” The Scientist, June 2008:32-38.) But in this highly nuanced debate, such Darwin-skeptics must avoid semantic land mines if they are to accurately, clearly, and effectively communicate their views. Some people who oppose neo-Darwinian evolution are fond of calling evolution “only a theory” or “just a theory, but not a fact.” After using such a phrase, they are immediately scolded by Darwinists, who tell them that “a theory” is a “well-substantiated scientific explanation of some aspect of the natural world” and that evolution should be considered “both fact and theory.”
Ken Miller just wrote a book titled, “Only a theory,” basically opposing people who use such an argument. Similarly, an opinion article recently condescended: One of the greatest misconceptions about evolution is embedded in the misuse of the word ‘theory’ in its application to science. The common antecedents that result in this misuse of the word are manifested in either genuine ignorance, or disguised ignorance. People are either genuinely mistaken of the word’s intent, or they are well aware of the word’s scientific definition, but still use the nonscientific definition in an effort to spawn doubt. … Evolution, because it’s a theory, is a higher form of knowledge than a fact.
Additionally, earlier this year the NCSE’s Glenn Branch co-wrote an article in an evolution-education journal taking the condescending approach: it labeled those who use the “evolution is ‘just a theory’ line as being “pejorative” and favorably cited a Darwinist who scolded, “To claim that evolution is ‘just a theory’ is to reveal both a profound ignorance of modern biological knowledge and a deep misunderstanding of the basic nature of science.”
Upon receiving such a scolding, the Darwin-skeptic who said that evolution is “just a theory, but not a fact” may feel quite bad. She innocently had no intent to violate any rules of semantics or misuse any terms; she merely wanted to communicate her skepticism of neo-Darwinism. In this tangled web of ambiguously defined terms, the Darwin-skeptic is then confronted by a number of confusing questions of rhetoric and semantics:
These are all good questions. In the sections below, I will attempt to answer all five questions, exploring the argument that evolution is “just a theory, not a fact” and providing criticism of people on both sides of this debate, as well as some friendly communications advice for Darwin-skeptics. And
from the outset, I should state that I have always opposed using the “evolution is just a theory, not a fact” line to communicate one’s skepticism regarding neo-Darwinian evolution.
Question 1. Are Darwinists correct to define “theory” as “a well-substantiated scientific explanation of some aspect of the natural world” or “a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence”?
According to the 1998 edition of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, a theory is “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, and tested hypotheses.” In 2008, the NAS released a new edition, Science, Evolution, and Creationism, stating that a theory is “a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence.” Darwinists routinely invoke these and other similar definitions of “theory” when scolding Darwin-skeptics for calling evolution “just a theory, not a fact.” Are Darwinists correct to define “theory” in this fashion? The answer to this question is both yes and no.
“Theory” can have multiple definitions. When I look up “theory” in my 1996 edition of Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (WEUDEL), the word “theory” has 7 or 8 different entries: Question 1: Are Darwinists correct to define “theory” as “a well-substantiated scientific explanation of some aspect of the natural world” or “a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence”?
- a coherent group of general propositions used as principles of explanation for a class of phenomena: Einstein’s theory of relativity.
- a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.
- Math. a body of principles, theorems, or the like, belonging to one subject: number theory.
- the branch of a science or art that deals with its principles or methods, as distinguished from its practice: music theory.
- a particular conception or view of something to be done or of the method of doing it; a system of rules or principles.
- contemplation or speculation.
- guess or conjecture.
According to entry #2, “theory” can mean “a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact.” Similarly, entries #6 and #7 define “theory” as “contemplation or speculation” or “guess or conjecture.” We’ll say these comprise the soft definition of theory and represent the definitions that the average person has in mind when they say, “evolution is just a theory, not fact.”
The upshot of the soft definition of theory is that Darwinists who imply that the term “theory” can never mean that “conjecture or guess” are in fact wrong, because “theory” can in fact mean conjecture or guess. On the other hand, if you’re a Darwin-skeptic who thinks that “theory” necessarily means “conjecture” or a “guess” and can never mean a verified scientific explanation, then you are wrong: After listing these entries, my 1996 edition of WEUDEL elaborates on proper usage of the word “theory” within the scientific community:
1. THEORY, HYPOTHESIS are used in non-technical contexts to mean untested idea or opinion. The THEORY in technical use is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena: the theory of relativity. A hypothesis is a conjecture put forth as a possible explanation of phenomena or relations, which serve as a basis of argument or experimentation to reach the truth: This idea is only a hypothesis.
Within technical scientific discussions, the term “theory” typically is understood to mean “a more or less verified or established explanation.” We’ll call this the hard definition of theory. But is this hard definition of theory the only way that scientists use the word “theory”?
When a Darwin-skeptic says “evolution is a theory, not a fact,” Darwinists often pounce and assert that the colloquial or “pejorative” (Glenn Branch’s label) usage of “theory” can mean “conjecture” or “guess,” but scientists never use the word “theory” to mean conjecture or guess. For example, Branch favorably quotes Ken Miller’s 2007 edition of the textbook Biology, implying that there is a united front and complete conformity within the scientific community regarding proper usage of the word “theory”: “In science, the word theory applies to a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.” Such Darwinist claims of unanimity within the scientific community are also questionable.
While scientists do typically imply the “hard” definition when using the word “theory,” they don’t always use it in that sense. If scientists always meant the “hard” definition of “theory,” then scientists would virtually never use the phrase “new theory” because an idea does not attain the status of a theory until it becomes well-established and verified, withstanding many tests until it is no longer “a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural.” Yet a quick search of PubMed for the phrase “new theory” reveals dozens and dozens of hits from the technical scientific literature where scientists offered “a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural” but called that explanation a theory.
Three recent examples of such usage of “new theory,” where theory represented an unverified idea, will suffice.
In the April, 2008 issue of the journal Medical Hypotheses, editor-in-chief Bruce G. Charlton uses the phrase “new theory” multiple times. The meaning implied by the term “theory” in this case was a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact. As Charlton observes:
Question 3. Is it correct to call evolution a “fact”?
A new article in Current Biology about Darwin Day celebrations quoted Johnjoe McFadden from the University of Surrey stating that “evolution is no longer just a theory. It is as much a fact as gravity or erosion. Scientists have measured evolutionary changes in scores of organisms.” The leading 20th century evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr quite dogmatically (and wrongly) claimed that, “No educated person any longer questions the validity of the so-called theory of evolution, which we now know to be a simple fact.” Similarly, according to the ardently pro-Darwin U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), evolution is a “fact”: Is Evolution a Theory or a Fact? It is both. But that answer requires looking more deeply at the meanings of the words “theory” and “fact.”
U.S. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM, PG. 11 (NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS, 2008).
What these Darwinist authors miss is that the legitimacy of calling evolution a “fact” depends on the meaning of the word “evolution.”
The debate over evolution can be confusing because equivocation has crept into the discussion. Some people use evolution to refer to something as simple as small changes in the sizes of birds’ beaks. Others use the same word to mean something much more far-reaching. Used the first way, the term “evolution” isn’t controversial at all; used the latter way, it’s hotly debated. Used equivocally, evolution is too imprecise to be useful in a scientific discussion. Darwin’s theory is not a single idea. Instead, it is made up of several related ideas, each supported by specific arguments:***
- Evolution #1: First, evolution can mean that the life forms we see today are different than the life forms that existed in the distant past. Evolution as “change over time” can also refer to minor changes in features of individual species — changes which take place over a short amount of time. We can observe this type of evolution going on in the present and even skeptics of Darwin’s theory agree that this type of “change over time” takes place. Evolution in this sense is “fact.” However, it is invariably the case that when Darwinists cite some present-day observations of change within a species, they will be small-scale changes that are not easily extrapolated to explain how complex biological features arose.
- Evolution #2: Some scientists associate the word “evolution” with the idea that all the organisms we see today are descended from a single common ancestor somewhere in the distant past. This claim became known as the Theory of Universal Common Descent. This theory paints a picture of the history of life on earth as one great branching tree. While this meaning of evolution is not necessarily incompatible with intelligent design, there are many scientific skeptics of evolution who are skeptical of Universal Common Descent.
- Evolution #3: Finally, some people use the term “evolution” to refer to a cause or mechanism of change, the biological process Darwin thought was responsible for the branching pattern. Darwin argued that unguided natural selection had the power to produce fundamentally new forms of life. Together, the ideas of Universal Common Descent and natural selection form the core of Darwinian evolutionary theory. “Neo-Darwinian” evolution combines our knowledge of DNA and genetics to claim that random mutations in DNA provide the variation upon which natural selection acts in a completely unguided fashion. It is this form of evolution that is the most controversial meaning of evolution.
So is evolution a fact? If by “evolution” one simply means “evolution #1,” i.e. small-scale change over time within a species, then evolution is indeed a fact. No one disputes this kind of “evolution.” Thus when Johnjoe McFadden states that “[s]cientists have measured evolutionary changes in scores of organisms” and therefore evolution “is as much a fact as gravity or erosion,” he is stating the obvious because he is simply referring to evolution #1.
But Dr. McFadden is pulling a bait-and-switch: he is using relatively trivial examples of evolution #1 to bolster more controversial definitions of “evolution.” Thus if by “evolution” one means universal common descent (evolution #2), or neo-Darwinian evolution (evolution #3), where the primary adaptive force building the complexity of life is unguided natural selection acting upon random mutations, then many scientists would argue that such “evolution” most certainly is not a fact.
A Closer Look at the NAS’ Mistake
Finally, consider how the NAS defines evolution as a fact:
In science, a “fact” typically refers to an observation, measurement, or other form of evidence that can be expected to occur the same way under similar circumstances. However, scientists also use the term “fact” to refer to a scientific explanation that has been tested and confirmed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing it or looking for additional examples. In that respect, the past and continuing occurrence of evolution is a scientific fact. Because the evidence supporting it is so strong, scientists no longer question whether biological evolution has occurred and is continuing to occur. Instead, they investigate the mechanisms of evolution, how rapidly evolution can take place, and related questions.
U.S. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, SCIENCE, EVOLUTION, AND CREATIONISM, PG. 11 (NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS, 2008).
I won’t dispute the NAS’s definition of fact, but it’s clear that unless by “evolution” they mean evolution #1, then there are many scientists who will disagree with their claim that evolution is a fact. However, the NAS DID define evolution as evolution #3, i.e. being driven by natural selection acting upon mutation-caused variation:
In the century and a half since Darwin, scientists have uncovered exquisite details about many of the mechanisms that underlie biological variation, inheritance, and natural selection, and they have shown how these mechanisms lead to biological change over time. Because of this immense body of evidence, scientists treat the occurrence of evolution as one of the most securely established of scientific facts. … The atomic structure of matter, the genetic basis of heredity, the circulation of blood, gravitation and planetary motion, and the process of biological evolution by natural selection are just a few examples of a very large number of scientific explanations that have been overwhelmingly substantiated.
Much more to read if one is interested and not intimidated by the righteous among us! 
