Instigator / Pro
14
1627
rating
37
debates
66.22%
won
Topic
#2556

The Theory of Evolution is a Fact

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
6
3
Better sources
4
4
Better legibility
2
2
Better conduct
2
0

After 2 votes and with 5 points ahead, the winner is...

Sum1hugme
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
Two weeks
Max argument characters
15,000
Voting period
Two weeks
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
9
1487
rating
4
debates
62.5%
won
Description

BOP is shared.

Pro : The Theory of Evolution is a Fact
Con : The Theory of Evolution is not a Fact

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Definitions for the context of this debate.

-Evolution - A scientific theory of biodiversity, describing how life diversifies [1].
-Scientific Theory - an explanation of an aspect of the natural world that can be repeatedly tested and verified in accordance with the scientific method [2].
-Evidence - The available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid [3].
-Fact - A point of data that is objectively verifiable [4][5][6]

These terms are not to be redefined during this debate.

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I look forward to a fruitful discussion.

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[1] https://www.britannica.com/science/evolution-scientific-theory
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
[3] https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/evidence
[4] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact
[5] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fact
[6] https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/fact

Damn good R1. I’ll look at this more later.

Vote bump

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@seldiora

Patience, young grasshopper

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@Sum1hugme
@Ayyantu

Do you guys just want to use this as the gauntlet debate so we can quickly roll through it?

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@Ayyantu

of course, i spell check the whole thing, only to miss my typo in the first line lol

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@Athias

Haha, it's totally cool man. Just thought I'd give you first crack

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@Sum1hugme

I'm sorry I didn't see this in time. But I'll be watching over your debate to see which arguments are made.

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@RationalMadman

Lol Me too

Didn't see that one coming...

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@Sum1hugme

I look forward to you arming me with arguments and information to use against you in our other debate.

PRO might get away with proving that evolution is objectively verifiable - it obviously is, to some extent, otherwise it wouldn't even be a valid theory - but it seems folly to refer to any theory as a fact. Especially in this case, given the changes the theory of evolution has undergone since its conception. It seems likely that this will come down to semantics, but still an interesting topic.

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@Ayyantu

I meant to say the "Theory of evolution" in premise 4. My bad.

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@Sum1hugme

IK, just messing

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@MisterChris

Yeah that's not where I was gonna take it lol. I mean that the theory is a factual descriptor of why there is biodiversity

well yes, it is a fact that it is a theory

PRO wins

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@Athias

Interested? I made this bc of your conversation in a forum post lol. If not I understand, no pressure