As Dawkins said in an Interview with Lawrence Krauss (to paraphrase) - it is not a theory in the colloquial sense - it is a theory in the scientific sense. It is only a theory in the same sense that it is a theory "that this is a table" *Dawkins points to table*, hehe.
And he says that in the colloquial sense it is a fact, and if creationists are going to keep using the colloquial version of 'theory' - as in the 'just a theory' kind of theory - perhaps we who accept evolution are playing the wrong game, with all the confusion. Perhaps we should be using 'Fact' in the colloquial sense since creationists keep relentlessly using 'theory' in the 'just a theory' colloquial sense.
It certainly seems bloody difficult explaining to all these creationists that a scientific theory isn't 'only a theory' or 'just a theory' - it isn't 'theory' in the colloquial sense!! But I'm not sure the alternative of using 'fact' in the colloquial sense would be so easy either...I dunno.
The following quote is appropriate here I think! And it's a good quote too.
: "Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night" — Isaac Asimov
It isn't 'only a theory'!!
EvF
And he says that in the colloquial sense it is a fact, and if creationists are going to keep using the colloquial version of 'theory' - as in the 'just a theory' kind of theory - perhaps we who accept evolution are playing the wrong game, with all the confusion. Perhaps we should be using 'Fact' in the colloquial sense since creationists keep relentlessly using 'theory' in the 'just a theory' colloquial sense.
It certainly seems bloody difficult explaining to all these creationists that a scientific theory isn't 'only a theory' or 'just a theory' - it isn't 'theory' in the colloquial sense!! But I'm not sure the alternative of using 'fact' in the colloquial sense would be so easy either...I dunno.
The following quote is appropriate here I think! And it's a good quote too.
: "Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night" — Isaac Asimov
It isn't 'only a theory'!!
EvF
