Quote:
Originally Posted by EricH
I happen to not believe in Mr. Darwin's theory (please note that it is still a THEORY, not a law, last time I checked) as a whole, but on the micro scale (similar species), it is rather accurate. And, I can understand choosing his name for a field, as every schoolkid will at least have some basic "hey, maybe I remember something about him, didn't he have a beagle?*" knowledge.
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In academia, a good working definition of a scientific theory is something that is "a broad, natural explanation for a wide range of phenomena. Theories are concise, coherent, systematic, predictive, and broadly applicable, often integrating and generalizing many hypotheses."
A scientific law is a tool that display a casual and repeatable relation among many scientific phenomena. These are often conveyed as mathematical equations.
Here is an example of how laws and theories can work together to further scientific conquest:
Newton, who I assume most of you may know of, devised many scientific laws that might be of some use to you. The law of universal gravitation is commonly shown as F=G((m1*m2)/r^2). Through large amounts of empirical data and inductive reasoning, Isaac Newton determined that a particle attracts all other particles in the known universe with a force directly proportional to the product of two masses and inversely proportional to the distance between them. Thankfully, we mostly just have to focus on the formula.
Isaac Newton discovered this law in the 17th century, and this discovery helped the scientific community understand how two bodies act between each other in the universe. This law helped put man on the moon. Unfortunately, the law does not help make concrete how the magic G in the formula (gravity/the gravitational constant) even works.
In the 20th century, Albert Einstein formed the Theory of Relativity. The project, which included multiple falsifiable hypotheses tested out by Einstein and other scientists, helped develop the theory. The Theory of Relativity transformed theoretical physics and essentially created and justified modern astronomy. The law of universal gravitation was a tool used in putting a man on the moon, but the theories developed by Einstein showed us how we could use that formula to do the great things aerospace engineers have done and will continue to do.
There is no Law of Evolution because such a relationship has not been distilled from the Theory of Evolution, nor has any law of evolution been concocted in a way that is divergent from or tangential to the existing theory. This does not change the fact that the Theory of Evolution is one that had falsifiable hypotheses carried out through controlled experiments.
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I hope this post was unlike most of my posts, XaulZan11, in that it did contribute something.