User:Filll/evolutionastheoryandfactrewrite3

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Evolution is commonly labeled as both theory and fact in

creationists is that "evolution is just a theory", and therefore uncertain. Descriptions of evolution as a fact, a theory
, or both, have not only been a focus of objections by creationists and explanations by evolution popularizers, but the basis of numerous laws, policies and court cases.

The argument that evolution is uncertain and not well-established because "evolution is just a theory" is actually based on a semantic misunderstanding, and does not have any substance.[1] In science, a theory is not something uncertain, or a guess, but an explanation of scientific data.

However, the statement that "evolution is just a theory" is so common and this creationist argument so weak, that it has developed a certain notoriety. Some creationists even advise against its use.[2][3]

Evolution is just a theory ?

Probably the most frequent complaint about evolution by creationists is captured in the statement that "evolution is just a theory".[4][2] Several American laws and official school policies have included this claim.[5][6] For example, "theory not fact" policies and laws were enacted in Tennessee,[7] Alabama,[8] Oklahoma,[9] Ohio,[citation needed] Louisiana,[10] and Georgia.[11][12][13] The Georgia Cobb County School Board spent about 4 years trying to place stickers in school books stating that, "Evolution is "a theory, not a fact..."[11] In the mid-1990s, the Tennessee legislature came close to passing a bill that would have made it possible to fire any teacher teaching that evolution was a fact and not a theory.[14]

The Dover Area School District in Dover, Pennsylvania was successfully sued in 2005 because they required that ninth grade biology students be read a statement describing evolution as just a theory, not a fact.

[15]


US President Ronald Reagan said in a press conference in 1980 that evolution "is a theory. It is a scientific theory only..."[16][17]


Governor Mike Huckabee stated "...Darwinism is not an established scientific fact. It is a theory of evolution, that’s why it’s called the theory of evolution."[18]

Scientists respond

The complaint that "evolution is just a theory" is not new, and both scientists studying evolution and their fellow scientists from other fields have responded with a variety of attempted clarifications and explanations over the years:

  • Stephen Jay Gould: "Evolution is a theory. It is also a fact."
  • Neil Campbell: "Today, nearly all biologists acknowledge that evolution is a fact. The term theory is no longer appropriate..."
  • Ernst Mayr: "The basic theory of evolution has been confirmed so completely that most modern biologists consider evolution simply a fact...And evolutionary change is also simply a fact..."
  • Eugenie Scott: "evolution is a theory...Evolution is a FACT!!!"
  • Richard Lenski: "Evolution...is both a fact and a theory."
  • Carl Sagan: "Evolution is a fact, not a theory."
  • George Simpson: "Darwin...finally and definitely established evolution as a fact."
  • R. C. Lewontin
    : "...evolution is a fact, not theory"
  • Douglas Futuyama
    : "...the historical reality of evolution--is not a theory. It is a fact..."
  • H. J. Muller
    : "evolution is not a fact, or rather, that it is no more a fact than that you are hearing or reading these words."
  • Kenneth R. Miller: "evolution is as much a fact as anything we know in science."
  • Helena Curtis and N. Sue Barnes: "Since Darwin's time, massive additional evidence has accumulated supporting the fact of evolution..."

References

  1. ^ Frequently Asked Questions; Intelligent Design and Evolution - Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School Board, American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania website
  2. ^ a b Moving forward: Arguments we think creationists shouldn't use, Jonathan Sarfati, Creation 24(2):20–24, March 2002.
  3. ^ Response to ACLU ID FAQ: Part 6-"Is evolution 'just' a theory?", Casey Luskin, Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center website
  4. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
    of New York, Inc., p. 51, 1985.
  5. ^ What’s Wrong with ‘Theory Not Fact’ Resolutions, National Center for Science Education, December 7, 2000, (accessed December 20, 2006)
  6. ISBN 1-59102-479-X
  7. ^ Tennessee Upset: ‘Monkey Bill’ Law Defeated, M. Matsumura, Reports of the National Center for Science Education 15, no. 4 (1995): 6-7
  8. ^ State of Alabama Distorts Science, Evolution, Eugenie Scott, Reports of the National Center for Science Education 15, no. 4 (1995): 10-11.
  9. ^ State of Oklahoma. 2003. House Bill HB1504: Schools; requiring all textbooks to have an evolution disclaimer; codification; effective date; emergency.
  10. ^ In Freiler v. Tangipahoa Parish Board of Education 1997, the District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana found that it was unconstitutional to require that teachers read a disclaimer before discussing evolution. This policy was adopted because some board members objected to the teaching of evolution as "fact".
  11. ^ a b The school district in Cobb County, Georgia tried to require biology books to include a sticker reading, This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered. This lead to the federal lawsuit Selman v. Cobb County School District. On January 13, 2005, a federal judge ruled that this sticker requirement was unconstitutional.
  12. ^ Evolution Stickers Gone for Good in Cobb County, Phil Berardelli, ScienceNOW Daily News, 20 December 2006
  13. ^ The Cobb County Anti-Evolution Textbook Disclaimer Case court case timeline
  14. ISBN 0-674-02339-0
    ]
  15. ^ The Dover Area School District of Dover, Pennsylvania required that biology students be read a statement that included;Because Darwin's Theory is a theory, it is still being tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations.
  16. ^ Republican candidate picks fight with Darwin, Science, Vol. 209. no. 4462, p. 1214, 12 September 1980, DOI: 10.1126/science.209.4462.1214
  17. ^ Presidential Support for Creationism, Jerry Bergman, Institute for Creation Research website
  18. ^ Is Evolution Arkansas's "Hidden" Curriculum, Jason Wiles, Reports of the National Center for Science Education, 25 (1-2): 32-36, April 2005

Arkansas??


I am thinking about giving a list of examples of "scientific facts" that are associated with evolution, such as:

  • observations of where a dinosaur bone was dug up, and what shape it was
  • genetic markers in human DNA showing the results of endogenous retroviruses
  • the observation that humans and other primates have opposable thumbs
  • the fraction of people in the population that are colorblind
  • observation of a teleomere in the middle of human chromosome number 2
  • observation that the species of plants on different sides of the Great Wall of China are different
  • discovery of nylon eating organisms
  • laboratory observations of fruit fly population changes over time
  • observation of the species of mosquitos that live only in the London Underground


Then I thought about also giving a very simple example of evolution, something like:

Now what does "change of distribution of alleles in a population over time" really mean? Suppose you took all the adults in your neighborhood and found out that 33% had blue eyes and 67% had brown eyes. Then suppose you took all the kids in your neighborhood and found out that 23% had blue eyes and 77% had brown eyes. Wow, the next generation has fewer blue eyes! Blue eyes are one allele, and brown eyes are another. And we have a change of the distribution of alleles in a population (people in your neighborhood) over time. So this IS evolution, by definition. The fact that there are fewer kids with blue eyes than among the adults is a "fact". And it is evolution.

Then introducing the idea that a Theory of Evolution is an explanation for these facts. And Darwin's Theory of Evolution was one of these theories. And the most accepted Theory of Evolution now is a modified form of Darwin's theory.

Fact, theory and a new journal

This article is likely to interest you, found via the links shown at Talk:evolution.... dave souza, talk 00:25, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

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