NESFA Collections, Volume 2

I have just received this book (see image), published by NESFA Press, through the post. The long table of contents includes several familiar titles but also many unfamiliar. I am starting with a 1983 Analog article on "Science and Creation."

"Theory" is contrasted with "fact" but also with "practice." Theory guides practice; practice tests theory. If we describe evolution as a "theory," then scientific creationists reply that, in that case, it is "only a theory," not a proved "fact," to which I have heard evolutionists more recently respond that, in that case, evolution is a fact.

As long as we are clear about what we mean, it is less important which words we use. The words change their meanings in any case. Anderson summarizes the scientific paradigm, using the following words:

observations;
mathematical descriptions;
hypotheses;
predictions;
theories;
basic principles -

- and argues that evolution has advanced from theory to principle.