Is Darwin's account of evolution "just a theory-?.
Darwin's account of evolution is not "just a theory-, it is scientific philosophy and according to Popper, it is this: .
"Evolution cannot be proved or disproved; it resides in a magical other world beyond scientific facts and commonplace reality. Evolution cannot be disproved, for it cannot be falsified. It is alike unprovable and unfalsifiable."".
The inference from this view of Popper is that mankind must accept the errors of evolution just as they read, without offering questions or objections. Do not think, do not reason; just accept it as is.
"In the American vernacular, 'theory' often means 'imperfect fact' "part of a hierarchy of confidence running downhill from fact to theory to hypothesis to guess." 1 .
q In science, a "theory" is a belief that has been verified by actual experimentation and/or observation.
There are many levels of scientific theories. Some, particularly new and emerging theories may be based on little evidence. Others, like the existence of evolution, the laws governing electricity, Newton's laws of motion, genetics etc., are supported by so much evidence from such a wide range of sciences that they are very firmly held beliefs. They have existed for many decades, or even centuries. Some, like the theory of evolution, have been relied upon by generations of physicists, geneticists, cosmologists, biologists, geologists, etc. They are accepted as true facts by essentially all scientists.
The foundation of science: the scientific method:.
It is difficult to comprehend any aspect of science without first understanding the scientific method. This is a very important problem solving technique which has been extensively used by scientists in their quest to build their knowledge base and gradually gain insight into the workings of nature. The scientific method has general application throughout human life as well. 2 It typically involves a number of steps: .