Scientific Theory...is relative?

[Max]

LMFAO!

Ok... so on another board I was getting tired of watching people slaughter the definition of 'scientific theory' so.. I did what any curious person seeking to help people relieve themselves of retardedness and created a thread about it.

This was the premise of the thread:

Gabe forced me to create this thread...which will be short I'm sure.

I want people to explain what a scientific theory is, in their own words, off the top of their heads. Don't google it. Don't use your college dictionary. Don't ask someone sitting next to you. Just quickly type the first thing that comes to your mind.

Go.


...except for Miggy...he lives in a tree.

Here are some of the responses:

In my opinion a theory is something that may have some scientific backing, but hasn't been proven as a law or truth.

Esentially I believe a theory is something that has a little evidence or is a possibility but has yet to be confirmed 100% true like Ohm's law where voltage = resistance x current. We know that to be 100% true whereas other things are only an educated hypothesis on what really happened like the origin of AIDs.

A scientific theory is a theory (an idea, a reason why something occurs) that is well accepted among scientists though not considered a hard fact.

A rational decision of what is likely to be/is accepted as fact due to the compelling/undeniable proofs laid forward to the world of science collected through much work and research toward the goal that was strived for.

a non-concrete conclusion heavily supported by observed and tested evidence.

Ok.....then we come to andre.

a theory is not a fact. i.e.--"Theory of Evolution" (with regards to man's existence on earth)

a theory cannot be firmly, 100% proved or disproved

To which I posted:

Well.. I can't say I'm surprised by a couple of the posts, lol.

Apparently one of the posters felt I was directing it at him, so he followed up with:

It's a relative question, MAX, so you mentioned. What do you expect? Do you expect for me to say that a theory is not what it is, and to say that it's bona-fide information?

Now, maybe I phrased the question wrong when asking, but would anyone here say that it was a relative question?
[/quote]

[Eris]

*giggles* I love some of the answers; they seem to range from hostile anti-intellectualism to fairly accurate with a good middle ground. I wonder if that's a decent cross-section of US understanding of the underpinnings of philosophy of science...

Anyway, your question was not at all relative. You asked people what they knew of scientific theory, which while it allows for individual perspectives, it also admits to there being an objective definition that provides the "correct" answer. There are several basic understandings of what a good theory is in science and you can judge the answers objectively based on how closely they come to those understandings.

Hmm, I wonder what sort of answers we'd get if we had this sort of question put up here...

[Dooey Jo]

Now, maybe I phrased the question wrong when asking, but would anyone here say that it was a relative question?

No, I think that's a pretty uhm... absolute question. But obviously you're going to get different answers, because people are going to have different things at the top of their heads when they read the word "theory". Some are going to think of stupid things and other might think of a more correct definition.

Funny how many of them seem like they have to really make it clear that a theory is "just a theory", like "it's not necessarily the truth", when that actually is pretty irrelevant to the real definition... Also, I always find lines like "it's not a fact" funny. No shit! That's two different things...

[General Zod]

I'll bet if you replaced the word "Scientific theory" with "Scientific explanation" you'd see dozens of people furiously backpedaling.

[Frank Hipper]

Hmm, I wonder what sort of answers we'd get if we had this sort of question put up here...

All theories begin as dreams had by the king, who then consults with his menagerie of birds.
Upon drowning a wizard, the theory is proven or disproven by whether or not he floats.
Scientific Theory, the true definition.

[NecronLord]

A theory cannot be disproven... actually, as I recall, that's the one thing they definately can be.