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Re:German court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros by allendoerfer on Friday March 13, 2015 @12:42PM (#9198098)
Evolution is indeed just a theory - the one every scientist sees as the most likely - but still a theory.

Edit (reply-limit): Thanks readerrr and cremno, valid points, will consider it in the future.

What I meant was, there have been theories before the current theory of evolution. For example Lamarck's one, which is long considered false but lately some aspects of it are reintroduced. If we would punish everyone for denying evolution we would be unable to advance it.

And of course this has nothing to do with teaching children biology. Of course children need to be taught evolution there.

Re:German court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros by readerrr on Friday March 13, 2015 @12:45PM (#9198111)
You are using an incorrect definition of the word. Theory used in science[0] means:

a coherent group of tested general propositions, commonly regarded as correct, that can be used as principles of explanation and prediction for a class of phenomena

and not:

a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact

We have a separate word for the latter: a hypothesis.

[0]:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory

Re:German court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros by imescent on Friday March 13, 2015 @12:49PM (#9198143)
Because science isn't about generating indisputable facts. If that's what you're doing, what you're doing isn't science. The epitome of good science is a predictive and well-supported theory like evolution.

Adding the word "just" implies a misunderstanding of how the scientific method works, because it doesn't get any better than a good theory.

Re:German court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros by Luc on Friday March 13, 2015 @12:49PM (#9198140)
I feel kind of bad mentioning it since everyone's bound to pile on, but evolution is a readily observed fact (e.g. breeding of dogs), while it's natural selection that's the theory...
Re:German court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros by cremno on Friday March 13, 2015 @12:47PM (#9198127)