Science is defined as the study of the natural (or material) world. All scientific explanations must refer to the natural properties and processes matter and energy – the natural world.
Science is the system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses experimentation and observation to explain natural phenomena.
Is there anything else other than a natural or material world? Absolutely! Do you love your mother? Do you love your children? Would you fight to defend you country? Is there a God that you pray to? The answer to these questions and others reveal there is more than a material world. We are talking about science. So back to the point.
This Science definition is copied from Wikipedia:
“Science (from Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”) is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.”
There are many fields of science, but the following two are the fields that involve the question, “Is evolution a theory?“:
1) Operational Scientist limit their explanations to the natural processes and natural properties. Their goal is to understand how particles, forces, energy and living things operate in nature.
The “scientific method” is what operational scientist use to enable researchers to remove superstitions and frivolous ideas, and biased opinions.
2) Forensic Scientist produce explanations on processes that cannot be tested using the scientific method. Their goal is to reconstruct historical events using induction and deduction. According to The Free Dictionary: “Forensic Science is sometimes called simply forensics, forensic science encompasses many different fields of science, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, engineering, genetics, medicine, pathology, phonetics, psychiatry, and toxicology.”
Other fields of science that are important and may contribute to the evolution debate include, but are not limited to:
- Computer Science,
- Social Science.
- Applied Science
- Life Science (Biology)
- Library Science
- Political Science
- Chemistry
- Earth Science
- Physics
Regardless of the branch of science, all sciences use a process or method of inquiry to obtain knowledge. The Scientific Method is important to Operational Science because it is the tool or method developed and used during the scientific revolution in the 17th century.
The Scientific Method consist of systematic observation, measurement, and experiment. Science and knowledge of our universe progresses by the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses. When a hypothesis has been fully tested and demonstrated to conform to all other known laws and theories, it may become a “Scientific Theory”.
Evolution is based on Forensic Science and should have no more claim as a “Scientific Theory” than any other historical representation of “creation” from the many creation myths.