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Originally Posted by Yorick
As said, "theory" is not a word confined to those sciences, and as an artist, music theory is central to what I do. This is part of the problem when self styled "scientists" section themselves off from the rest of society. By losing the broader meaning of the word itself, a scientist can place greater self-importance on their "theory" than what is actually there.
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Scientists need to be specific to avoid confusion. It has nothing to do with any bloated self-importance.
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An educated guess is still a guess. No it's not a random pick, but many of us make educated guesses every day in our lives. We hypothesise in our heads when we make plans for the next day, or have conversations with another person in our minds.
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Guesses implies that there is little to no evidence to support it; people who have evidence usually don't use the word "guess", instead claiming to "know" things. Theories generally have some form of evidence to support them when they are presented; many are very well supported. I think (your) confusion here lies in that you play fast and loose with definitions here; equating everyday guesses and hunches with scientific theories, devaluing the latter.
If you want to criticize a theory you should adress that theory itself and its alleged evidence, not going on a semantic wild goose chase.