posted on Aug, 24 2010 @ 11:04 PM
I was reading a chemistry book for my own knowledge, and read that there are two different ways scientists use the word "theory". I figured this
would be an interesting discussion to have.
The first usage of the word "theory" is an explanation to a verified hypothesis. This is different from a law, because a "law" is just a statement
of observed facts. Hence the theory of gravity is an explanation to why gravity works the way it does, but the law of gravity is a statement (in this
case, a mathematical statement) of the fact of objects attracting each other.
The second usage of the word "theory" is in the sense that it is a body of knowledge, comprised of laws, theories, facts, arguments and so forth.
The interesting thing about this usage is that it doesn't have to necessarily be an explanation of a proven hypothesis, just a bunch of knowledge
about some related things.
Anyway, that is what I read and it makes sense to me. Which theories of science do you suppose have which definition attached to them?
[edit on 24-8-2010 by 547000]