”
Evolution is only a theory.
”
This has become the war cry of the Intelligent Design and
Creationist proponents.
Editor,
“Evolution is only a theory.” This has become the war cry of the Intelligent Design and Creationist proponents. This depends on a certain degree of ignorance in scientific standards.
In normal, everyday use ‘theory’ implies something untested, and having only a small degree of evidence in its favor. In scientific terms, a theory is an idea that has gone through a series of tests and passed them all.
Evolution is a theory. Other theories include germs, gravity and atoms. Intelligent Design on the other hand, is a hypothesis. Meaning that, while it has logical support, there is no support from any scientific tests.
It is here that there is problem with teaching ID as equal to Evolution. With time and testing ID may well become a competing theory. Indeed, even having the testing done would help deal with criticism. For the moment however, no testing has been done, and (to my knowledge) there has been no attempt to close ID’s own gaps. Such as what exactly this unnamed intelligence is. Or how this design was carried out.
Cory Finch, via e-mail
