For you a scientific theory is either wrong or impossible to prove ? Is that applicable to all theories that can exist ? So the whole science will be a fiction.
A theory can be proved, so it becomes a fact. And it can be disproved so it becomes false and rejected.
What you say is good, and quite beneficial as it shows the fact that science is not always trustful.A scientific theory, or to be precise the prevailing scientific theory, is simply our best explanation for a set of empirical observations. As soon as no longer adequately explains our observations, it is clearly in need of either revision, or outright rejection.
You give good examples yourself. It once was theorized that the earth was a sphere, but it is not! That theory was rejected as it could not accomodate Newton's application of his own 'laws' to the problem, and he first suggested it was in fact an oblate spheriod, which while very close is not a sphere. But, those very Newtonian laws (An33za please note, 'LAWS') turned out to be applicable only as a special case. Yet before Einstein everyone was perfectly happy to accept them as despite a huge wealth of astronomical observations being taken, none seemed to contradict them, or those that did were quietly ignored or assumed to be observational mistakes. Yet while you can (and we did) send a man to the moon based purely on Newtonian physics as the relevant relativistic effects are minimal, for the vast majority of phenomena in the Universe (if not our pereception of it), they do not apply.
I'm still confused about what you're saying. I mean you're still insisting on the fact that a theory cannot be proved. I don't know, if you mean by theory = a not yet proved claim, or you may have a different definition of what a theory is. But if you consider a theory as a guess or a claim that can be true or false, then no, you're wrong. A theory is made because it seemed to be probably true from a certain observation. And if it's not yet proved, and we still using it, then that's because it has a big chance to be proven as true one day in a certain science (proving) system, or can be disproved as well.That is simply untrue, there are no such 'facts'. A particular observation or observations may be facts, but the explanation for them can only be (at best) a theory. That is why, in this context, evolution is no different from general relativity. It is the accepted scientific theory because it best explains the wealth of empirical evidence we have. As importantly, while there are a great many things it can not (currently) explain there are none that demonstrate it is not 'true' even if it may need some tweaking. And it gets forgotten very quickly that there has been a considerable amount of such tweaking since Darwin's time.
I'm still confused about what you're saying. I mean you're still insisting on the fact that a theory cannot be proved. I don't know, if you mean by theory = a not yet proved claim, or you may have a different definition of what a theory is. But if you consider a theory as a guess or a claim that can be true or false, then no, you're wrong. A theory is made because it seemed to be probably true from a certain observation. And if it's not yet proved, and we still using it, then that's because it has a big chance to be proven as true one day in a certain science (proving) system, or can be disproved as well.
But if we proved the truth of a theory T 100 years ago, but today, that theory T turned to be false, then the problem is with our system (the science itself), and not with the fact that a theory cannot be proved.
hope this clarified my point.
Yes. I agree with that. The point is we are using the same logical proving process with scientific theories. That makes the scientific theory subject to be proven or disproved. But what makes our proving system correct or not is how accurate are the basic axioms and deduction rules (scientific laws) that we admit as true in the first place to develop our deduction.The reason why a theory in science can never be proved is because things are only proven in logic. Logic uses a deductive method which yields 100% certainty and deduction leads to 100% certainty because, in a deduction, you can never go beyond what you already assume to be true. Deduction is useless in discovering things about the world because deduction does not tell you what is actually true; it only tells you what are tautologies. Since only logic gives u 100% truth then it follows there's a chance for everything demonstrated outside of logic to not be true (since their probabilities are < 100%). Hence scientific facts are really theories since they can't go beyond 99.99...% certainty on whether they are true or not. For the sake of simplicity, we just call things that have an abundance of evidence as 'facts' such as the 'fact' that the speed of light is constant. This does not mean science doesn't work it just means we need to understand why logic gives us 100% truth and why this method does not work in determining empirical facts.
Yes. I agree with that. The point is we are using the same logical proving process with scientific theories. That makes the scientific theory subject to be proven or disproved. But what makes our proving system correct or not is how accurate are the basic axioms and deduction rules (scientific laws) that we admit as true in the first place to develop our deduction.
I'm ok with what you said in the previous post. But that's not the idea I was talking about previously with Trumble :Well then what's the argument about? This is obviously what the other posters meant when they said nothing can be proven in science. You can't prove anything in science because science does not have self-evident axioms. The axioms in science have the possibility of not being true (because they are not tautological as is in logic) and that possibility is why scientists call their even most well supported theories as 'theories.
All I got as answers is : theories can't be proved. Well this is not right. Theories can be proved using the existing scientific evidences, no matter how long these evidences will remain as true axioms, but for now we have to work within the existing scientific system.
But If it's not possible to prove the evolution theory right now, why consider it a basis for further scientific developments ?
Hope my idea is clear. Need to sleep now.
An33za,
As Trumble has pointed out, above, laws can be disproven. Newton's Law of Gravity, for example, was replaced by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (that introduced new laws of motion under gravitational fields that successfully predicted the bending of light by gravity and correctly calculated Mercury's orbit etc.). Laws are not the apex of science, Theories are. A Law is simply a relationship that affects all objects that undergo the situation in question - they are generic prediction tools. However, they offer no underlying explanation for why that relationship is accurate. A Theory does provide the underlying explanation and any Laws implicit in the Theory should be able to be derived from the Theory. Theories 'outrank' Laws as a result and are what science strives to develop in order to increase our understanding of reality.
marwen,
I don't think we need to accept anything as absolutely true - solipsism can't be disproven which makes it a moot point in any case. All I think is necessary is to take a pragmatic approach and make sure that any conclusion you wish to draw has a rational basis and is supported by the available evidence (with, of course, the caveat that the conclusion may turn out to be wrong if new evidence arises).
Anyway, you've clarified that you don't mean 'prove' in an absolute sense, and Lynx's link to talkorigins.org should provide you with enough evidence to understand why the Theory of Evolution is currently accepted as the best explanation for the diversity of life-forms found in nature.
But are you sure that muslims are not claiming to know the absolute truth? I've seen it written plenty of times, both on this site and elsewhere, that Islam is 'the truth' (with no qualifiers saying this is a tentative conclusion), that it is the ultimate revelation etc. I believe the Qu'ran even refers to itself as perfect, which is synonymous with being absolute, and that any change to its writings is blasphemous due to it then being less-than-perfect. I'd be really interested to find out if Islam didn't adhere to making absolute claims as that would make it different to other religions in not being a dogmatic ideology.
But are you sure that muslims are not claiming to know the absolute truth? I've seen it written plenty of times, both on this site and elsewhere, that Islam is 'the truth' (with no qualifiers saying this is a tentative conclusion), that it is the ultimate revelation etc. I believe the Qu'ran even refers to itself as perfect, which is synonymous with being absolute, and that any change to its writings is blasphemous due to it then being less-than-perfect. I'd be really interested to find out if Islam didn't adhere to making absolute claims as that would make it different to other religions in not being a dogmatic ideology.
Scientific theories are the most useless ridiculous bunch of speculation I have seen in my life and any person who is willing to accept them is dim-witted at best.
If a theory is right you won't call it a theory right?
A theory can be disproved where a law cannot. A law can only be changed or extended because a law by definition not about correct or incorrect it is about following and not following ...
However, as muslims, we have 100% belief (note that it is not absolute) ...
As for changing the Qur'an and changing interpretations of holy sciptures, well we know what happened to the other religions who had no qualms about changing their scriptures, right?
naidamar,,
How is '100% belief' not being absolute in your belief? You haven't left any room for doubt by stating 100% belief, so therefore you are absolutely sure about your belief. Do you admit that there is any possibility, no matter how small, that the Qu'ran did not come from God? If not, then how is your belief anything less than absolute concerning this alleged fact?
The religions diversified, some disappeared and some remained. Mormonism is the one that springs to mind most readily.
I do not understand why you would say this when you are using a computer and the internet to write it. The technology you are using would not exist without Quantum Theory and the Theory of Thermodynamics.
Likewise, you have probably been innoculated against certain diseases or at least live in a population that has undertaken innoculation programmes - innoculations that would not have been produced without the Germ Theory of Disease. You and all of us on this board almost certainly owe our lives to scientific Theories.
You are equivocating. The colloquial use of the word 'theory' is not the same as the scientific use of the term 'Theory'. A scientific Theory is a detailed explanation of why we observe certain sets of facts and, in some cases, why some observed Laws are the way they are. The colloquial use of 'theory' to mean speculation or a hunch is not applicable to scientific Theories.
If you change or extend a Law due to new facts that have come to light then you are tacitly admitting that the original Law was incorrect.
Newton's Law of Gravity depended upon an inverse-square relationship that has been demonstrated to be incorrect under certain conditions. The extension produced the Theory of General Relativity with a new, more accurate Law of Gravity inherent to it. Laws can thus be demonstrated to be wrong and adapted in exactly the same way that scientific Theories can be.
Also - can please enlighten me and give an example of a piece of technology that was developed due to Quantum physics - aside maybe to the atom bomb (which is debatable because - frankly none of us here really knows how to make one of these things, I hope).
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