Gravity is a law, evolution is a theory. Since evolution has been tested more successfully and it has much more weight than say Phlogiston does. Not all theories are created equal.
This from Wiki (I know wiki can be wrong): Some key phrases: ... ensuring it is probably a good approximation, if not totally correct. ... rather than asserting certainty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory Essential criteria The defining characteristic of a scientific theory is that it makes falsifiable or testable predictions. The relevance and specificity of those predictions determine how potentially useful the theory is. A would-be theory that makes no predictions that can be observed is not a useful theory. Predictions not sufficiently specific to be tested are similarly not useful. In both cases, the term "theory" is hardly applicable. In practice a body of descriptions of knowledge is usually only called a theory once it has a minimum empirical basis, according to certain criteria: - It is consistent with pre-existing theory, to the extent the pre-existing theory was experimentally verified, though it will often show pre-existing theory to be wrong in an exact sense. - It is supported by many strands of evidence, rather than a single foundation, ensuring it is probably a good approximation, if not totally correct. Non-essential criteria Additionally, a theory is generally only taken seriously if: - It is tentative, correctable, and dynamic in allowing for changes as new facts are discovered, rather than asserting certainty. - It is among the most parsimonious explanations, sparing in proposed entities or explanations—commonly referred to as passing the Occam's razor test. (Since there is no generally accepted objective definition of parsimony, this is not a strict criteria, but some theories are much less economical than others.) This is true of such established theories as special and general relativity, quantum mechanics, plate tectonics, evolution, etc. Theories considered scientific meet at least most, but ideally all, of these extra criteria. Theories do not have to be perfectly accurate to be scientifically useful. - The predictions made by Classical mechanics are known to be inaccurate, but they are sufficiently good approximations in most circumstances that they are still very useful and widely used in place of more accurate but mathematically difficult theories. - In chemistry, there are many acid-base theories which, while providing highly divergent explanations of what "really" makes acids acids and bases bases, they are very useful for describing the phenomenology of certain chemical reactions which fall under the concept of "acid-base reaction". In a sense, the notion of generalized acid-base reaction is not precisely defined, and therefore theories about what gives rise to acid-base chemistry are "inexact"; nonetheless, they are useful scientific theories. . On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 8:57 AM, GMoney <[email protected]> wrote: > > Because we seek consistency in thought and argument. > > If one scientific theory is suspect simply because it contains the word > "theory"....then all of them are. > > The simple fact is that what separates the evolution theory from other > theories in science is that it has a religious implication. No one doubts > gravity because falling apples don't challenge people's comfort stories > about benevolent ghosts. > > On Thu, Sep 15, 2011 at 7:49 AM, Sam <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> Why is it always all or nothing with this group? >> >> . >> >> On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 11:17 PM, GMoney <[email protected]> wrote: >> > ....lest you die thinking gravity doesn't exist, simply because it >> > is not a "proven fact". >> > >> >> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:342657 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
