Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould writes:
"Evolution is a theory.
It is also a fact.
And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty.
Facts are the world's data.
Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts.
Facts do not go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them.
Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's, but apples did not suspend themselves in mid-air, pending the outcome.
And humans evolved from ape-like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
The National Academy of Science (U.S.) makes a similar point:
"Scientists most often use the word "fact" to describe an observation.
But scientists can also use fact to mean something that has been tested or observed so many times that there is no longer a compelling reason to keep testing or looking for examples.
The occurrence of evolution in this sense is fact.
Scientists no longer question whether descent with modification occurred because the evidence is so strong."
Isn’t ‘descent with modification’ natural selection?
Oh, I stand corrected if the great Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould says it is fact!
I didn’t evolve from a monkey sir, you can believe it if you want. I’m not impressed.
Oh, I stand corrected if the great Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould says it is fact!
I didn’t evolve from a monkey sir, you can believe it if you want. I’m not impressed.