On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 00:46:16 +0000 (UTC), ngmsv 
wrote:

>I'm sure this question is completely redundant in this group.  I was 
>reading an article discussing how the Theory of Evolution encompasses 
>both fact and theory.  Alright, so the mechanism of evolution is the 
>theoretical part.
>
>Could someone please elaborate what makes the fact a 'fact'?  Is it 
>simply because the animal kingdom, and fossils found, can be placed upon 
>a heirachy of differing features ?
>

Evolution is a fact because we have direct evidence of change in
heritable features over time.  We see changes in fossils over geologic
time.  We see changes in modern, existing populations over observable
time (albeit much smaller changes).

One of the predictions of the "theory" aspect is that organisms should
be able to be put into a tree structure, a hierarchical series of
subdivisions, indicating relationship by descent.  That the
observational data confirms this (and other aspects of the proposed
mechanisms) puts the theory into the category of accepted mechanism
rather than the category of tentative hypothesis.  

Simply put, evolution explains what we see and there is no competitive
explanation that has any shred of scientific validity.
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