Theory of Science - Essay Example

The word theory has different meanings in different contexts. In everyday life ‘theory’ means an opinion, a guess, a hunch. However, it is not that way in science. According to Gordana Dodig – Crnkovic (2001), “science is the systematic study of the properties of the physical world, by means of repeatable experiments and measurements, and the development of universal theories that are capable of describing and predicting observations. Statements in science must be precise and meaningful, such that other people can test them (in order to establish “universality”)” (p.6). Correspondingly, the theory is science is a logical and mathematical explanation, a framework describing the relations between phenomena, a set of universally true laws and principles, a testable, self-consistent model of reality, derived from the systematic observation of natural phenomena and conditions and capable of predicting future events and development of things. Ta scientific theory can always be verified by further investigations, be it an experiment or an empirical observation. The word theory comes from Greek theoria, which means ‘speculation, contemplation.’ It also can be traced back to the word the, meaning divine thing, so that theory means contemplation on the divine organization of nature.

There may be several theories about the same part of reality, all of them revealing some truth. However, one theory may be superior to other competing theories. Then it becomes a framework within which theoretical facts and observations are explained and predicted (Dodig – Crnkovic 2001, p.8).

According to Karl Popper (1963) a scientific theory has the following characteristics: 1) It can be easily verified and confirmed. 2) Confirmations are sound if the prediction is risky and there have been expected an event able to refute the theory. 3) A scientific theory always forbids some things to happen. 4) A scientific theory is always refutable by some fact or event. 5) Each test is an attempt to falsify or refute a theory, but theories have different degrees of testability, some theories being more testable than others. 6) Confirming evidence must be derived through a genuine test. 7) Theories that have been refuted can be redefined. Thus in Popper’s view, a scientific theory is falsifiable, refutable, or testable (Popper 1963).

Philip Kitcher (1982) do not agree with Popper on the falsifiable statement entirely, arguing that some of the scientific theories, consisting of an “elaborate collection of statements” (p.45), are not falsifiable in whole, but include some falsifiable statements, which he calls “auxiliary hypotheses”. Otherwise, the observations of Uranus would have falsified Newton’s celestial mechanics. Instead, scientists proposed a hypothesis that Uranus’ orbit must be influenced by another planet. Thus Kitcher distinguished three criteria of a scientific theory: 1) unity, 2) fecundity and 3) independently testable auxiliary hypotheses. He wrote: “Good theories consist of just one problem-solving strategy, or a small family of problem-solving strategies, that can be applied to a wide range of problems” (p.47). “A good theory should be productive; it should raise new questions and presume that those questions can be answered without giving up its problem-solving strategies” (p.48).

Thus a scientific theory is logical, predictive, and testable, though some of its elements may be refutable, providing new questions, which then can be verified.