"fact" and "theory" are not mutually exclusive"
Yes they are. If I remember correctly, it goes hypothesis, theory and ends as fact. A theory is something that can be tested and confirmed, but not 100% conclusive. Theories can also be tested and be proven wrong any day.
That is what I remember. It's been 30 years.
> If I remember correctly, it goes hypothesis, theory and ends as fact.
Wrong.
http://wilstar.com/theories.htm
Quote:
Hypothesis: This is an educated guess based upon observation. It is a rational explanation of a single event or phenomenon based upon what is observed, but which has not been proved. Most hypotheses can be supported or refuted by experimentation or continued observation.
Theory: A theory is more like a scientific law than a hypothesis. A theory is an explanation of a set of related observations or events based upon proven hypotheses and verified multiple times by detached groups of researchers. One scientist cannot create a theory; he can only create a hypothesis.
In general, both a scientific theory and a scientific law are accepted to be true by the scientific community as a whole. Both are used to make predictions of events. Both are used to advance technology.
The biggest difference between a law and a theory is that a theory is much more complex and dynamic. A law governs a single action, whereas a theory explains a whole series of related phenomena.
An analogy can be made using a slingshot and an automobile.
A scientific law is like a slingshot. A slingshot has but one moving part--the rubber band. If you put a rock in it and draw it back, the rock will fly out at a predictable speed, depending upon the distance the band is drawn back.
An automobile has many moving parts, all working in unison to perform the chore of transporting someone from one point to another point. An automobile is a complex piece of machinery. Sometimes, improvements are made to one or more component parts. A new set of spark plugs that are composed of a better alloy that can withstand heat better, for example, might replace the existing set. But the function of the automobile as a whole remains unchanged.
A theory is like the automobile. Components of it can be changed or improved upon, without changing the overall truth of the theory as a whole.
Unquote.
Yes they are. If I remember correctly, it goes hypothesis, theory and ends as fact. A theory is something that can be tested and confirmed, but not 100% conclusive. Theories can also be tested and be proven wrong any day.
That is what I remember. It's been 30 years.
Facts are data: the size of the moon, the hardness of a rock, age of a fossil, the fact that change occurs through time.
Evolution is a theory. A theory is used to organize data. Heinlein said it well:
Look again at the definition of a theory that I posted above:Piling up facts is not science--science is facts-and-theories. Facts alone have limited use and lack meaning: a valid theory organizes them into far greater usefulness.
A powerful theory not only embraces old facts and new but also discloses unsuspected facts [Heinlein 1980:480-481].
Theory: a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena; "theories can incorporate facts and laws and tested hypotheses"; "true in fact and theory"
In addition to being a fact (things change over time), evolution is an explanation of how things change over time. The theory of evolution has withstood 150 years of challenges, including by fields of investigation--genetics and radiometric dating, for example--that did not exist when the theory was proposed. Every fossil that is found, and every DNA sequence that is decoded constitutes a test of the theory of evolution. It has passed all test to date.
Theory, hypothesis and fact are not steps in the life of a scientific explanation. They are names for specific parts of the scientific method. Facts support hypothesis which are predictions based on a theory.
A theory is a coherent set of descriptions of a group of phenomena. It is an overall description of how things happen.
A hypothesis is a proposition set forth as a way of testing a theory. Generally, such a proposition takes the form that if some set of conditions occur the theory predicts a specific outcome.
A fact is a specific datum. Scientifically, the word "observation" is the correct term for a group of facts gathered as part of testing a hypothesis.