Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Articles

The Facts of Life

Tim Wilkinson uses evolution to sort out his facts from his ‘mere theories’.

Almost one hundred and fifty years after the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, the February 2009 edition of Mathematics Today contained the following statement: “Many advocates of Darwinism would like us to believe that it is an established fact, whereas of course its status is that of a theory.” Ronald Reagan thought evolution was “a scientific theory only” and George Bush said the jury was still out. Meanwhile, more than two hundred years after Darwin’s birth, courts are being asked to decide whether alternatives to evolution should be taught in science classes. It is time to tackle the fact-versus-theory debate head on.

In the sense that any particular scientific theory is always an example of scientific theories in general, statements about Darwinism being a theory are correct, if rather empty.

…