He is not proposing the teaching of evolution as "just a theory"—as something conjectural or speculative, a guess or a hunch (Branch and Mead 2008).
Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, on this view, had been seduced by positivist philosophers (like Ernst Mach and his ostensible followers, the Vienna Circle) into thinking that their theory was not conjectural but was merely a compendious, economical but non-hypothetical description of experience.
For decades, scientists (for example, Gould 1981Gregory 2008) have insisted that in science, a theory is not necessarily conjectural or speculative.
Bryan died just after the Scopes trial, but his position that it is okay to teach about evolution but only as something conjectural or speculative, as "just a theory" and not as a fact continues to resonate.
Lacking fossils, his conjectural pedigrees relied on embryos, via the theory that individual development (ontogeny) recapitulates that of the species (phylogeny).
Innovation projects can construct a general theory of change but the assumptions are more conjectural, making the theory much more like a hypothesis" (Obrecht 2017).
No part of the theory of textual criticism has suffered more from misunderstanding than has conjectural emendation.
A central obstacle to accepting evolution, both among students and the general public, is the idea that evolution is "just a theory," where "theory" is understood in a pejorative sense as something conjectural or speculative.
"Sanity's conjectural," Mike said.
The headline on Brian's story says "theory," which is fine as shorthand in a headline, but this is still very hypothetical and maybe even — I hope this isn't a pejorative in scientific circles — conjectural.
