What Does Scientific theory Mean
We explain what a scientific theory is and its characteristics. Also, differences between law, hypothesis and scientific theory.
What is a scientific theory?
A scientific theory is a body of concepts, abstractions and rules obtained from observation and experimentation with empirical reality . It formulates the principles from which the phenomena of reality can be explained.
In simpler terms, it is about the explanations formulated from scientific knowledge by means of which a certain set of observations and concepts obtained can be organized in an empirical , objective and verifiable way. This concept should not be confused with that of scientific law, much less with that of scientific hypothesis .
Scientific theories are the main foundation of scientific knowledge. Contrary to what their name suggests, they are not mere speculations or assumptions, but are supported and proven explanations , which improve as time passes and the phenomenon they describe is better understood.
Therefore, scientific theories represent the culmination of scientific thought, that is, the most rigorous, reliable and complete form of knowledge that science allows .
Scientific theories are classified into two types:
- Phenomenological theories. Those that try to describe the phenomena of nature , to establish quantifiable laws according to their behaviors. They are based on direct observation and data collection without "contaminating" the study of assumptions of a metaphysical, essentialist or the researcher's will.
- Representative theories. Those that try to find the essence of the studied phenomena, that is, that which bases their laws and their nature, going to the "bottom" and the why of things.
See also: Scientific research
Characteristics of a scientific theory
Scientific theories have the following characteristics:
- They are systematic explanations , that is, a system of postulates and premises from which empirical laws, that is, theorems, can be deduced. This can also be understood as a deductive ordering of laws and axioms, which have a logical and verifiable relationship with each other .
- They can have a logical and abstract form , endowed with axioms, rules and deductions, or they can consist of definitions . Rarely, however, are they formulated in such a structured and organized way.
- They are mental or imaginary constructions, but not assumptions or inventions, but are strongly supported by observation, experimental replication and empirical verification.
- They have nothing to do with subjective evaluations, aesthetic positions or with the very will of researchers, but are guided by objectivity and the scientific method .
- They tend to be updated over time , as scientific knowledge is perfected and new instruments are invented.
Scientific knowledge
Scientific knowledge is that which is obtained through the application of the scientific method , that is, from the compilation of verifiable facts and supported by evidence, collected by the different scientific theories.
It is an organized, verifiable, objective and empirical knowledge , that is, it does not take into account the subjectivities of the person . Your ideas can be tested, judged and reproduced, always yielding the same results and always reaching the same conclusions .
Thus, scientific theories, which are organized and deductively complete sets of scientific propositions, are the ultimate form of scientific knowledge.
More in: Scientific knowledge
Differences between hypothesis, law and scientific theory
These three terms are often used interchangeably, even though they represent different times and different stages of scientific knowledge. It is therefore convenient to define each one separately to understand their differences.
- Scientific hypotheses. Suppose an unexpected phenomenon occurs, and scientists, drawing on their understanding of the known laws of nature , are quick to come up with reasons why and how such a phenomenon occurs. These assumptions are obviously rational and informed, and constitute scientific hypotheses. Some will be true, some will not, and this will be defined through experimentation.
- Scientific laws. Continuing with the previous example, we know that scientists will try to describe how the unexpected phenomenon occurs, measure it, examine it, obtain empirical information from it, in order to better understand it. Said observations, verifiable, objective, later reproduced in laboratories and expressed in an appropriate language (for example, mathematically, that is, through formulas), will constitute a law: something that always happens, in a measurable, verifiable, reproducible way.
- Scientific theories. The final step of our example will be taken by scientists who, by studying the laws that describe the unexpected phenomenon, will be able to approach a conceptual, systematic and deductive model of the reason for the unexpected phenomenon. They will put in relation what is described by the laws, the concepts that they entail, to finally find a satisfactory and general explanation for the unexpected phenomenon, which will become part of accepted scientific knowledge.
Examples of scientific theories
Some examples of scientific theories are as follows:
- Heliocentric theory. Also known as the Copernican model, it is the astronomical theory that places the Sun as the center of the Solar System (initially of the universe ) and assumes it as a more or less fixed point around which the planets revolve , the Earth among them. This theory came to replace medieval geocentrism, which assumed the Earth as the center of the universe and the other stars rotating around it.
- Evolutionary theory. The theory of evolution is the scientific model that explains the origin of species and their gradual change over time, as an adaptive response (both physical and genetic) to the changes that occur around them. It is a theory inherited from the scientific formulations of Charles Darwin and that starts from the existence of a “ natural selection ” that favors certain species and sentences them to extinction, depending on which one has adapted better to the present environment.
- Atomic theory. This chemical model of matter understands it as a structural organization of virtually indivisible particles , known as atoms , which exist in great quantity in the universe, but of which there are a finite number of categories. That is, there is a finite set of elements (atoms) whose combinations generate the different types of matter that exist, including organic and that of our bodies.
- Theory of relativity . Formulated by the German physicist Albert Einstein in the 20th century, this physical model encompasses both the Theory of Special Relativity and the Theory of General Relativity, the work of the same author, by means of which the scientist tried to resolve the existing incompatibility betweenNewtonian mechanics. or classical, and electromagnetism . Its fundamental precept is that space and time form the same continuum, within which the events of reality take place, but that these are always relative to the state of motion.of the observer (hence its name). In this he broke with the traditional considerations that assumed time and space as fixed and absolute elements.
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