Re: possibly OT: NYT article on GA creationism/evolution debate

[Hugh Haskell <hhaskell@MINDSPRING.COM>]

At 19:15 -0500 8/23/02, John Clement wrote:
> Why should anyone object to labeling evolution as a theory, which indeed it
> is?  And it should be approached with an open mind and studied carefully and
> critically.  What a wonderful statement.  One  wishes that all academic
> subjects could be approached the same way.
You are absolutely correct, and I would agree with what you said if
it weren't for the fact that when "those folks" use the word
"theory," they really mean "hypothesis" or "guess." They and most of
the public use theory in this much less exalted meaning that
scientists do, so they really are saying something that isn't true.
Darwin's "dangerous idea" *is* a theory, and a wonderful one, for it
is the beginning of understanding how life on earth operates. But
"evolution," taken to mean "descent with modification," which is how
Darwin used it, is as near to a fact as anything in science can be.
So what the opponents of teaching evolution are saying is just not
true.

The other problem, is that they are not interested in studying
evolution carefully and critically, which is really a good idea. They
want only to discredit it and suppress it. Unfortunately, they have
adopted and adapted scientific language in pursuit of a
non-scientific goal.

Hugh
--

Hugh Haskell
<mailto:haskell@ncssm.edu>
<mailto:hhaskell@mindspring.com>

(919) 467-7610

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
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