Wow, Jai, you're skating on thin ice there. Didn't you say earlier you weren't a creationist? (Maybe I'm misremembering.) You realize that line is just creationist pap, eh?
1) I'm not a creationist (probably closer to deism).
Okay, that's what I thought. Glad I didn't misremember.
2) So just want to clarify...are you saying that evolution is a law or do you accept that the scientific community still calls it a theory?
Remember this whole you-answer-my-questions-and-I'll-answer-yours thing we talked about? It only works if it's a two-way street.
I'm going to answer your questions here, but I'm expecting a good-faith reply to answer my second question there, as you've just dodged it.
First, my answer: The term 'evolution' is not, to my knowledge, considered a scientific law. It is considered, contrary to your false dichotomy, both a theory and a fact by the scientific community. Please read at least this quote from
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_as_fact_and_theory carefully, although the whole article would be well worth your time to read:
Many scientists and philosophers of science have described evolution as fact and theory, a phrase which was used as the title of an article by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould in 1981. He describes fact in science as meaning data, not absolute certainty but "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent." A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of such facts. The facts of evolution come from observational evidence of current processes, from imperfections in organisms recording historical common descent, and from transitions in the fossil record. Theories of evolution provide a provisional explanation for these facts.[1]
Each of the words "evolution," "fact" and "theory" has several meanings in different contexts. Evolution means change over time, as in stellar evolution. In biology it refers to observed changes in organisms, to their descent from a common ancestor, and at a technical level to a change in gene frequency over time; it can also refer to explanatory theories (such as Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection) which explain the mechanisms of evolution. To a scientist, fact can describe a repeatable observation that all can agree on; it can refer to something that is so well established that nobody in a community disagrees with it; and it can also refer to the truth or falsity of a proposition. To the public, theory can mean an opinion or conjecture (e.g., "it's only a theory"), but among scientists it has a much stronger connotation of "well-substantiated explanation." With this number of choices, people can often talk past each other, and meanings become the subject of linguistic analysis.
Evidence for evolution continues to be accumulated and tested. The scientific literature includes statements by evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science demonstrating some of the different perspectives on evolution as fact and theory.
Moving on...
Evolution is a theory by scientific standards for theory formulation, because it is still being adjusted in accordance with new testable hypotheses and experimental results.
I've found that it is useful to use some standard terminology here to avoid all confusion about 'theory' and 'fact'.
When I want to talk about the 'fact' of evolution, I often refer to it along the lines of 'the fact that organisms evolve', by which I mean the technical definition of 'a change in gene frequency over time' within a population of organisms. This is indisputably a fact. You can measure it and everything. If you take Biology in university/college, you might even be able to do actual measurements yourself, with some fruit flies.
When I want to talk about the 'theory' of evolution, I always accompany it with the key phrase 'natural selection', as in, 'the theory of evolution by natural selection'. This is because the actual *hypothesis* that Darwin is famous for is that the *fact* of evolution in nature (as opposed to in human domestication/breeding of plants and animals) is *explained* by the proposed process of *natural selection*. In other words, gene frequencies in populations of organisms change over time [the fact part] *because* some genes render the organisms they inhabit better suited to the environments those organisms find themselves in, conferring a *natural* (rather than artificial) selective reproductive advantage to the organism, and hence increasing the proportion of those genes in future generations [the theory part].
There are probably at least a couple scientific laws associated with the theory of evolution by natural selection, but the only one I ever remember the name of is the Law of Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardy%E2%80%93Weinberg_law). It's a fascinating law, but has very little to do with the tricky terminology over 'theory' and 'fact'. 'Law' in science doesn't mean either 'fact' or 'theory', it refers more to a *mathematical* law, you see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_law
Now I'll requote my second question to you. I hope you'll answer it; otherwise it's likely I'll quickly lose interest in answering your questions in return. Here it is:
You realize that line is just creationist pap, eh?
And by "that line", I'm referring to what you wrote, here:
Second, if you want to know a real fact - Evolution is a theory and not a law (even if it is well evidenced).
For context, this is a good video describing why I call 'that line' creationist pap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIm2H0ksawgYour phrasing used 'law' instead of 'fact' as most creationists would phrase it, but the essential issue is that it still perpetuates confusion over the word 'theory' as used in a scientific context. As the video so aptly describes, I don't see people writing "Gravity is only a theory" or "Atoms are only a theory". Why do you think that is? It's because it's creationist pap, and they (creationists) only have a problem with evolution, not gravity, nor atomic theory, nor any other scientific theory they (creationists) routinely take for granted.
Edited 2/17/2016 07:41:07
