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| | Theories | Explains the connections between things in the world | | | Theories | Explains the connections between things in the world | |
| | Hypothesis (Icel. tilgáta) | A prediction about the relationship between a limited set of phenomena, as explained by a particular theory. | | | Hypothesis (Icel. tilgáta) | A prediction about the relationship between a limited set of phenomena, as explained by a particular theory. | |
| | Support from evidence | The strongest form of evidence is rigorous hypothesis testing using scientific experimentation: clearly thought-out tests of the claims that naturally fall out of the Theory to be tested. It helps if the hypotheses concern unexpected results. | | | Support from evidence | The strongest form of evidence is rigorous hypothesis testing using scientific experimentation: clearly thought-out tests of the claims that naturally fall out of the Theory to be tested. It helps if the hypotheses concern unexpected results. | |
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| ====Popper: Falsification of Hypotheses==== | ====The Nature of Theories==== |
| | Very powerful method | Given theory X, if one can deduce a relationship that has to hold between A and B, where A and B are the domain of a particular theory, and that relationship is falisifed through an experimental procedure that can be replicated by anyone, then obvioulsy theory X has been disproven. | | | Where theories come from | Scientific theories almost never pop out complete and finished. They get assembled piece by piece, until there are so few pieces left that someone figures out a full picture - a complete story to be told, explaining the phenomena at hand. | |
| | Problem | Although scientific knowledge is the most reliable knowledge there is, most scientific theories at any point in time are theories in flux. | | | Scientific theories: Always evolving | Although scientific knowledge is the most reliable knowledge there is, most scientific theories (the best ones for any given topic) at any point in time are theories in flux in that they are actively being put to the test. | |
| | Theories in flux | Counter to what many think, theories almost never pop out complete and finished. The become assembled piece by piece, until there are so few pieces left that someone figures out the full picture. In the mean time, however, it is easy to falisfy hypotheses based on the theory, which, in the early stages, may not be much of a theory. | | |
| | Science builds theories | The theory - hypothesis distinction is a convenience. In reality this is a continuum. Which means that theories are in various forms of growth. | | |
| | Conclusion | We need a mixture of methods during the development of theories. | | |
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| | ====Theory and Empiricism==== |
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| | | "Observable" | Philosopher: what you can observe with your senses. Scientist: what you can measure | |
| | | "Non-observable" | hypothetical concept (that may become observable at some point, in the scientists sense). | |
| | | Empirical laws | Rule that relate two or more observables. Example: Color wheel artithmetic - yellow+blue=green. | |
| | | Theoretical laws | Rules that deal with non-observables. | |
| | | Rule <--> law | Law: Rule that has become established (through experiment). | |
| | | Empirical laws <--> facts | Empirical laws relate facts about observables. | |
| | | Empirical law <--> Theoretical law | Similar to empirical <--> facts relation. | |
| | | Theoretical example | The concept of "atom" would never arise out of observation. | |
| | | Empirical example | The concept of the "heat expands metal" can be measured on observables. | |
| | | Theoretical laws produce empirical laws | E.g. Theory of Relativity predicts bent light in gravitational fields. | |
| | | Correspondence rules | Relate theoretical laws with empirical laws and observables. | |
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| | ====Will Science Ever Be Done?==== |
| | | The Big Question | Will science ever be "finished"? Will it ever have explained reality to such an extent as we can say "we now have a complete theoretical framework where every theory has been unified (explainable in a single overall theory), everything is understood and everything can be predicted." | |
| | | Answer 1 | It will not finish because, at the current speed of scientific inquiry, the human race will perish before all things in the universe have been fitted into a complete model/Theory of All. | |
| | | Answer 2 | It is already "finished", in that its uncovering of big theories is slowing down, inevitably - for all practical purposes - grinding to a halt in the next 100 years. | |
| | | Answer 3 | We will build intelligent machines that can do science at 10k times the speed of humans. Hence we might be done with theoretizing the universe within humanities timeframe. | |
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| | EOF |
