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Theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Quote:
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Originally Posted by Wikipedia The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion.
In science a theory is a testable model of the manner of interaction of a set of natural phenomena, capable of predicting future occurrences or observations of the same kind, and capable of being tested through experiment or otherwise verified through empirical observation. For the scientist, "theory" is not in any way an antonym of "fact". For example, it is a fact that an apple dropped on earth has been observed to fall towards the center of the planet, and the theories commonly used to describe and explain this behavior are Newton's theory of universal gravitation (see also gravitation), and the general theory of relativity.
In common usage, the word theory is often used to signify a conjecture, an opinion, a speculation, or a hypothesis. In this usage, a theory is not necessarily based on facts; in other words, it is not required to be consistent with true descriptions of reality. True descriptions of reality are more reflectively understood as statements which would be true independently of what people think about them.
According to the National Academy of Sciences,
Some scientific explanations are so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter them. The explanation becomes a scientific theory. In everyday language a theory means a hunch or speculation. Not so in science. In science, the word theory refers to a comprehensive explanation of an important feature of nature that is supported by many facts gathered over time. Theories also allow scientists to make predictions about as yet unobserved phenomena.[1] |
Seeing as the context I used was "scientific" theory, nothing has been presented in this category that requires a god to work.
I've never really cared for the skirmish over the definition of the word theory. Regardless of context it's simply too common and too open of a word, but I think the religious would have worked to co-opt whatever word we used. They're better at word games and we're better at proof. We might as well stick to our strengths.