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evolution, fact or theory, continued...
Holly Swyers (nesn-info@CCE.ORG)
Wed, 6 Mar 1996 19:27:13 GMT
On March 6, Mr. E wrote:
To except science unequivically is no different than a religious
individuals unwaving faith in God/Goddess/Whatever.
Bravo!!! And well said. Thomas Kuhn's work on paradigms does a great job of
putting science in perspective - once we have accepted a theory as a
scientific community, we rarely ask a question that is not informed by that
theory. When someone finally asks the question (and collects the evidence)
that topples existing accepted theory (in any field), the world becomes a
very different place. That place may be one which is hostile to your life's
work as a scientist (if all your significant work was based on the accepted
premise that the earth is flat, what is your role on a round earth?) - so it
makes some sense that scientists would prefer to have a theory be fact.
Evolution may well be "fact," - it certainly seems at least as likely as any
other explanation - but we would do ourselves a disservice to consider it an
immutable fact.
Thanks for listening.
-Holly
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