RE: TO ALL THEISTS: EVOLUTIONARY THEORY IN A NUTSHELL YOU CAN UNDERSTAND.
May 8, 2012 at 11:58 pm
(This post was last modified: May 9, 2012 at 12:00 am by Hovik.)
This is a great explanation. However, there is one point of contention I would like to clarify:
This is not accurate. Theories do not graduate into laws; they are different things with different functions.
A law is a statement of fact based on consistent observation. Laws are readily demonstrable and non-disprovable facts. A law can be a mathematical model that describes something, but that model never changes. Perhaps even more crucially, a law can be independently tested and will remain consistently true.
A theory, on the other hand, is a hypothesis that has been tested and found not to be faulty. To use the definition from wiktionary: "A coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena, or which sets out the laws and principles of something known or observed [...]". Note here that the part "observed facts or phenomena" would be our laws, things that are readily provable.
As an example, while a law of gravity might involve the mathematical model that describes the manner in which gravity affects an object with mass, the theory of gravity is the 'why,' the set of ideas that explain the laws.
Quote:When something becomes scientific law, the puzzle is finished [...]
This is not accurate. Theories do not graduate into laws; they are different things with different functions.
A law is a statement of fact based on consistent observation. Laws are readily demonstrable and non-disprovable facts. A law can be a mathematical model that describes something, but that model never changes. Perhaps even more crucially, a law can be independently tested and will remain consistently true.
A theory, on the other hand, is a hypothesis that has been tested and found not to be faulty. To use the definition from wiktionary: "A coherent statement or set of ideas that explains observed facts or phenomena, or which sets out the laws and principles of something known or observed [...]". Note here that the part "observed facts or phenomena" would be our laws, things that are readily provable.
As an example, while a law of gravity might involve the mathematical model that describes the manner in which gravity affects an object with mass, the theory of gravity is the 'why,' the set of ideas that explain the laws.
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