Friday, June 22, 2007

‘But evolution is just a theory’

'[To] talk about a passionate commitment to "evolutionary theory" is certainly not a contradiction in terms. Calling a scientific model of explanation a "theory" is not to demean it, least of all an indication of disbelief, but a reminder that the purpose of science is to provide frameworks of increasing coherence within the "facts" and "observations" can connect and make sense'

(Denis Alexander, Rebuilding the Matrix, p. 306)

6 comments:

Looney said...

Chris, I would pass on the suggestion from Byron Smith @ Nothing New Under The Sun to read "What Is This Thing Called Science" by Chalmers. The notion of science as 'facts' and 'observations' is rejected as utterly naive within the first few pages with classical examples of how that viewpoint screwed up totally.

Evolution is just a synonym for change. Nobody doubts change (evolution), but what the nature of change (evolution) is and what causes it are the subject of millions of theories. Thus there is no identifiable theory of evolution (change). It is all a play on words.

Anonymous said...

Looney,

Theories aside. Whales walked into the ocean, but never onto the ark. You must deal with that.

Sid

Looney said...

Sid,

I can't argue with something you saw first hand.

Looney

Anonymous said...

Looney, evolution is not just a synonym for change, it is a scientific theory supported by overwhelming evidence. Unfortunately ridiculous personal attacks seem to be the prevailing argument of so called creation scientists.

MiLe said...

Hi Chris,

The following text may help too:

http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_noma.html

MiLe

Chris Tilling said...

Hi Looney,
"it is all a play on words".

Thanks for your comments. I, however, disagree with this statement and refer to the cited book for more information.

Thank you to the rest of you for the links. I thought your link, Martin, was rather cute!