Is evolution a theory or fact?
It has been accepted as a “fact” since the 1940s. Quote: Darwin’s work led to the rapid acceptance of evolution, but the mechanism he proposed, natural selection, was not widely accepted until the 1940s. Most biologists argued that other factors drove evolution, such as inheritance of acquired characteristics (neo-Lamarckism), an innate drive for change (orthogenesis), or sudden large mutations (saltationism). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_evolutionary_thought Well, let’s say that Darwin’s theory of natural selection has not been seriously contested since the 1940s. But it would be more correct to say that evolution is BOTH a theory and a fact. Quote: Evolution is both fact and theory, explaining: * the major patterns of change in nature * how these changes occur * fossil and genetic evidence of change Scientific understanding requires both facts and theories that can explain those facts in a coherent manner. Evolution, in this context, is both a fact and a theory. It is an i
