In a previous post HERE, the principles behind a scientific theory rae explained and the differences between a scientific and personal theory were pointed out.
Many sources say that Evolution is both a theory, and a fact, and this might be confusing. How can something be a fact and not a fact and a theory at the same time?
It should be pointed out that the theory of evolution and the fact of evolution are actually two separate understandings that simply carry the same name. They are separate, but one (the theory) describes how the other (the fact) works.
It works like this:
Facts are found all over the world. In a way, you could call these facts the observations we find in our search for knowledge. A simple way to look at it, is to look outside and say “grass grows, it’s a fact” and in normal circumstances you would be right, grass does grow. But how and why does it grow?
This is where a theory comes in handy, it tries to explain the fact, the observations. In our grass analogy, it could explain the inner workings off the grass, making the conclusion (it grows) a fact supported by a theory.
In a way, you could call it grass growing theory.
Same with evolutionary theory and fact. There is a series of facts, facts which were first put together by Darwin, he than explained these facts. At some point the facts were called evolution. And the theory of evolution, explains how it works.
One understands of course, that as more and more observations are made on the topic of evolution. The theory adapts, because it has to explain it all as accurately as possible.
An example to clear this up. If we just made a theory on how grass works. But we never knew grass had roots. Then finding grass roots, would give us new observations, a new fact that hasn’t been explained by our “grass theory”. In other words, we have to change our theory so that it explains grass, including the grass roots, and we have to do so, in a way that both get explained.
