When I was in high school I was taught the now conventional meaning of 'Theory' and 'Hypothesis' as esposed frequently on this board by my fellow evos. However, as I ready more historical science I've come to the conclusion that this is an entirely modern invention.
In fact, the word "Theory" doesn't mean
anything in Science. It's just an arbitary chosen title; just as earlier generations of scientists tacked 'law' onto their (or, to be fair, onto other people's) work so did 'theory' become the prefered tag. Darwin's works were never talked about as a hypothesis then, later, under the weight of great evidence,
promoted to a theory. Scientists who were convinced by it just started calling it a theory. Similarly with Einstein's theories of relativity - never known as a hypothesis simply taged a theory (and so tagged before the famous gravity lensing test).
For 'Is It Science?', I guess?
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