The way I was taught to define "Theory" and "Law," we can't call it a law.

A law is a description of a phenomenon that always happens (i.e. object
with mass with attract each other in proportion to their masses).  It
doesn't tell how or why it happens, just what happens.

A theory is an explaination of why or how something happens that is
supported by a large body of evidence (i.e. enstein's theory of gravity
that explains that gravity causes objects to attract because stuff with
mass bends space-time).

By these definitions, evolution is a theory, not a law.  The problem is
that most people use the term "theory" the way scientists use the word
"hypothesis".


Aurora Toennisson
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Graduate Student
Entomology and Plant Pathology
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The University of Tennessee
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