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Re: [Phys-l] Is evolution something to believe in?



Of course science is not to be believed in. Any theory is based on
experimental evidence. But to make any statement about a theory, it is
necessary to be aware of and understand all the evidence behind it.
One should also be aware of the limitations of the theory, and what
observations if any it does not explain.

In other words, to make any statement about a scientific theory, you
have to know what you're talking about. Creationists always skip this
bit, and therefore for them it does come down to what to believe in,
because they are not capable of any kind of rigorous thinking. This is
why the whole "creationism-vs-evolution" quarrel is so sterile. It
doesn't lead to anything and it never will. You can lead a creationist
to evidence but you can't make him think.

Alfredo

On Wed, Apr 2, 2008 at 8:57 PM, cliff parker <cparker@charter.net> wrote:

"Well _some_ Republicans don't believe in evolution,"

I seem to be seeing a lot of believing and not believing going on around
here. I site above only one example of many on the evolution thread. Is
evolution or any other scientific theory something to believe in? Do you
believe in the Theory of Relativity or Quantum Theory? Because apparently
something is wrong with at least one of them since they are not compatible.
The language we use betrays our true attitudes and that language sounds a
lot like religion and faith to me. Maybe if we taught our children about
science rather than what they should "believe in" we would be better off,
but sadly we do not. Every science class should begin with the comment that
all of what you will learn in here is wrong, useful but wrong. The ideas
you will encounter are all models of one kind or another they help us
organize and visualize our thinking. Being correct is not the goal.
Getting models that bring us closer to what we see in nature is. That idea
should be repeated often and the reasoning behind it should be the first
thing that students think about when they think about science. We as a
collective group of "science" teachers have for the most part come
completely off the track!

Cliff Parker




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