If life adapts and evolves, as we are able to observe, test and gather evidence, we have the facts of evolution. How we put these facts of evolution together is our theory on the means of evolution.
''Many
scientists and
philosophers of science have described
evolution as fact and theory, a phrase which was used as the title of an article by
paleontologistStephen Jay Gould in 1981. He describes
fact in science as meaning
data, not known with absolute certainty but "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent".
[1] A
scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of such facts. The facts of
evolution come from observational evidence of current processes, from imperfections in organisms recording historical
common descent, and from transitions in the
fossil record. Theories of evolution provide a provisional explanation for these facts.
[1]'' -Wiki.
