Dec 14 2017

“Every theory destabilizes as much as it solidifies our view of the world.” Discuss.

When most people use the word “theory”, they usually refer to an idea or a hunch that

someone has and according to Merriam-Webster, it is just pure speculation. A scientific theory,

the one related to the natural sciences which is an area of knowledge, is when a scientific

hypothesis, a suggested solution for an unexplained occurrence not proven yet, accumulates

enough evidence to support it and becomes a valid explanation of a phenomenon. We usually

think of theories as being significant and solidifying our view of the world with the amount of

tested and verified evidence that it’s backed up by, but is it? To state that every theory

destabilizes as much as it solidifies our view of the world suggests that it does both things in

equal amount and the stability and the confusion would negate each other. My take on this

question is that a theory either does destabilizing or solidifying our view of the world based on

our identities and perspectives. So the knowledge question that came to my mind was “In the

area of natural sciences, to what extent does cultural identity influence the outcome of effects of

a scientific theory?”

Right now when we learn about theories like the theory of evolution in biology class, we

are taught that the theory has solidified our understanding of the world, bringing us closer to the

truth with a scientifically proven conclusion that we evolved from lower primitive lifeforms to

what we are now. But this theory of evolution destabilizes a certain group of people’s view of the

world, which would be devout Christians. Evolution contradicts the Creation narrative in the first

chapters of Genesis, the first book of the Bible, which says creation happened in six, twenty-

four-hour days. The theory of evolution is clearly in conflicts with this from the Bible “I have

made the earth, and created man on it. I—My hands—stretched out the heavens, and all their

host I have commanded” (Isaiah 45:12). It would be hard to believe in these and also believe in
evolution. To a Christian, this theory of evolution would destabilize rather than solidify their view

of the world, but to me who isn’t that religious, it has solidified my understanding of the world

because I can see the real life application of a concept like evolution in something like antibiotic

resistance. Every theory either solidifies our view of the world or destabilize it but our different

perspectives and identities such as being a religious person or not is a big contributing factor to

which of the two effects that it does.

Another theory destabilizing and solidifying our view of the world depending on identity

can be seen with what happened when the heliocentric theory was proposed by Nicolaus

Copernicus. He proposed that the sun is in the center of the solar system with the planets

revolving them. His theory differed from Ptolemy’s geocentric system, in which the Earth is the

center of the solar system with the planets and the sun revolving around it. The geocentric

theory said that if the Earth were to revolve around the sun, we would feel the motion and the

stars would move and it also made us humans feel more superior as we were the center of the

solar system and had everything revolve around us. During the 1500s, the Church supported

the geocentric model overall because it came earlier than Copernicus's theory and also in order

to gain more status since us being in the center made us feel more special. Then comes the

Copernicus’s heliocentric theory which was banned by the Church for three centuries after his

death. The heliocentric theory proposed by Copernicus was obviously a big threat to the

church’s view of the world as it means going against their teachings and they would lose their

position and authority since what they believed in was not true and cause people to question the

validity of the things that they do. It is a matter different identities that decides whether it

destabilizes or solidifies our views. For the Church, this theory destabilizes the view of the

world, but for later scientists and people right now, this theory is the sole reason we know so

much about the space now like how the Earth spin and rotate around the sun, thus solidifying

our understanding of the world.

 In conclusion, the concept of a theory destabilizing or solidifying a person's’ view of the

world comes down to that person’s judgement on the values of the theories in which their

identities play a role in the process of judging.

Bibliography
“Does evolution contradict the Bible?” Bibleinfo, 2012, www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/can-

evolution-and-creation-go-together.

“Copernicus - Mini Biography.” YouTube, A&E Television Networks, 8 July 2013,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0p6NKANE08.