Hypothesis, Theory and Guess

[Yorick]

Originally Posted by JrKASperov While a dictionary is all fine and dandy, if we are talking about the scientific world,.

Originally Posted by Stratos Perhaps, but if you talk about scientific theories you should use the definition of a scientific theory, not the vernacular usage.

Which scientific world? Are you exclusively placing physics and chemistry and perhaps biology into the scientific world? What about economists, sociologists, anthropologists? These all deal with collecting hard data, analysing it and making conjecture about what they see.

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.

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.

Hypothetical creation is part of what defines us as human, and as such is hardly the exclusive domain of physicists.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Well sure; look at the theory of evolution for example!
(runs to the arctic....and hides..)

[Beaumanoir]

Here we go again!

But seriously, why was the other thread locked and this one practically followed on from it??

[Yorick]

Originally Posted by Beaumanoir Here we go again! But seriously, why was the other thread locked and this one practically followed on from it??

I have a theory as to why, but it's just conjecture at this point.

[Yorick]

Originally Posted by SecretMaster Well I feel absolutely daft right about now.

I feeling I am quite used to actually. Especially when being a husband!

[JrKASperov]

Originally Posted by Yorick Which scientific world? Are you exclusively placing physics and chemistry and perhaps biology into the scientific world? What about economists, sociologists, anthropologists?

The scientific world. Including all sciences. Which debunks the rest of thine post. :p

However, I'm an instrumentalist, so I do not necessarily agree with the common usage of the word.

[Lavindathar]

Oh so there WAS a point to this thread

[Stratos]

Originally Posted by JrKASperov The scientific world. Including all sciences. Which debunks the rest of thine post. :p However, I'm an instrumentalist, so I do not necessarily agree with the common usage of the word.

Well, in the social sciences the concept of "theories" can sometimes be loosened up a bit. In natural sciences, however, it's still fairly clear.

[Stratos]

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.

Scientists need to be specific to avoid confusion. It has nothing to do with any bloated self-importance.

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.

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.

[Stratos]

Originally Posted by Variol (Farseer) Elmwood Well sure; look at the theory of evolution for example! (runs to the arctic....and hides..)

I see what you did there!