Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 65 (9162 total)
3 online now:
Newest Member: popoi
Post Volume: Total: 915,806 Year: 3,063/9,624 Month: 908/1,588 Week: 91/223 Day: 2/17 Hour: 0/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   What is a Theory?
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4189 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 9 of 249 (491874)
12-23-2008 9:44 AM
Reply to: Message 7 by platypus
04-23-2008 8:36 PM


The theory of gravity was developed in Newton's time, it if anything means something different than how we use theory today.
Which is just what the term theory implies, falsifiability. Very few theories, held today, are the same as when they were first accepted. That is the role of science to test theories and modify or even overturn them based on current evidence.

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002
Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969

This message is a reply to:
 Message 7 by platypus, posted 04-23-2008 8:36 PM platypus has not replied

  
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4189 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 34 of 249 (494047)
01-13-2009 7:44 AM
Reply to: Message 32 by erikp
01-13-2009 6:33 AM


If every falsifiable theory will eventually be falsified, it means that every falsifiable theory will eventually be proven to be false. That means that the correct status of scientific theories is: unproven, false.
This statement reeks of "Stupidity." Even if every scientific theory was falsified, in all cases the replacement theory would still contain elements of the current theory. Such robust theories as the Copernican Solar System, Plate tectonics, evolution, oxydation-reduction, Periodic law & gravity, for example, would not be totally falsified without bringing down virtually all related theories. Each may be falsified in the sense of alternation of certain aspects of the theory, but in all of the above cases the theory contains some actual facts. The mechanism for the theory might be modified at some future date, but the premise is still there.
Edited by bluescat48, : sp

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002
Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969

This message is a reply to:
 Message 32 by erikp, posted 01-13-2009 6:33 AM erikp has not replied

  
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4189 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 39 of 249 (494073)
01-13-2009 12:17 PM
Reply to: Message 37 by erikp
01-13-2009 11:42 AM


Re: your "logic" leaps to false conclusions
All cases are equivalent. "Water boils at 100 C" has always been unproven, and presumably false, but it took a long time to discover that "Water boils at 70 C if you reduce the pressure sufficiently", and that the boiling point for water was replace by a formula in terms of atmospheric pressure. That theory or any further refined theory is, of course, still false.
No it is not, just refined. At a given pressure water boils a specific temp. All that has done to the original theory is correct a missing part. It does not disprove or make the theory false. Why do you claim the theory is false?
Edited by bluescat48, : sp

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002
Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969

This message is a reply to:
 Message 37 by erikp, posted 01-13-2009 11:42 AM erikp has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 41 by erikp, posted 01-13-2009 12:25 PM bluescat48 has not replied

  
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4189 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 148 of 249 (494272)
01-15-2009 8:03 AM
Reply to: Message 143 by erikp
01-15-2009 6:16 AM


Only the infinitely falsifiable theories are presumably false. The other theories can be true.
So give me one "infinitely falsifiable" theory? If your "infinitely falsifiable" is a theory, then by your own definition the infinitely falsifiable idea is false thus, true = false, which is absurd.

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002
Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969

This message is a reply to:
 Message 143 by erikp, posted 01-15-2009 6:16 AM erikp has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 160 by erikp, posted 01-15-2009 6:30 PM bluescat48 has replied

  
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4189 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 161 of 249 (494407)
01-15-2009 7:05 PM
Reply to: Message 160 by erikp
01-15-2009 6:30 PM


"Water boils at 100C" is a theory falsifiable by an infinite number of facts. It is an infinitely forward-looking statement, which needs to assimilate an infinite number of future events in order to be true. That is the reason why it is presumably false.
Except that it is not false. At 1 atmosphere water boils at 100oC. Therefore at one point the idea is not false.
Edited by bluescat48, : superscript
Edited by bluescat48, : No reason given.
Edited by bluescat48, : sp

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002
Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969

This message is a reply to:
 Message 160 by erikp, posted 01-15-2009 6:30 PM erikp has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 165 by erikp, posted 01-16-2009 1:21 AM bluescat48 has not replied

  
bluescat48
Member (Idle past 4189 days)
Posts: 2347
From: United States
Joined: 10-06-2007


Message 244 of 249 (497007)
02-01-2009 12:27 AM
Reply to: Message 242 by Rrhain
01-31-2009 5:56 AM


Not to be nitpicky but:
("2.71828182845904523536" as the value of pi).
The number you gave is the value of e
which curiously enough rounds to 3 at one place accuracy thus pi = e to zero decimal places.
Edited by bluescat48, : italic

There is no better love between 2 people than mutual respect for each other WT Young, 2002
Who gave anyone the authority to call me an authority on anything. WT Young, 1969

This message is a reply to:
 Message 242 by Rrhain, posted 01-31-2009 5:56 AM Rrhain has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 245 by cavediver, posted 02-01-2009 6:08 AM bluescat48 has not replied
 Message 248 by Rrhain, posted 02-03-2009 2:28 AM bluescat48 has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024