The rise of probablistic statistical analysis has obscured the importance of phylogenetic studies in testing evolutionary theories. Strict scientific method requires hypothesis testing in a narrow framework, accepting or rejecting a null hypothesis directly. Scientific theories are much larger philosophical constructs than hypotheses, they apply sometimes and not others, or to varying degrees in various situations. As such, they do not lend themselves to the methods of hypothesis testing in the common sense. Appropriate tests of theories are seen more through phylogenetic analysis than through simple tests of a null hypothesis. Modern methods permit phylogenetic studies to return to the forefront of evolutionary theory.