As the evolution/creationism debate continues in
the US, one argument that creationists repeatedly use is that evolution
is just a theory, not something that is actually proven (Creationist arguments:
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html).
Unfortunately, people
who make this argument don’t understand evolution (topic for another post) or
scientific theory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#Scientific_theories).
First, what is a scientific theory?
A theory is a set of statements that explains a
group of observations; usually the statements have been widely tested and
accepted. (In physics, either the theory or observations
can come first.)
