surprise, surprise! everything is just a theory
Want to make a scientist groan? Listen to a lecture about cutting edge research in his or her area of expertise, then say the five dreaded words: “it’s all just a theory.” From creationists to people who seem to believe that if it hasn’t been done yet, it must be impossible, habitual abusers of this phrase wield it to dismiss and demean vast swaths of modern science with a haughty sneer. In the process, they keep showing just how little grasp of the scientific method they have and impress only those who don’t know that even such basic tenets as how germs make us sick or the flow of time, are all “just theories.” In science, a theory is something that seems to be confirmed time and time again, no matter how many times we test it or how many people try to replicate it.
When you first sat down in science class and were shown a diagram of the scientific method, you saw a very simplified version of what really goes on when a new discovery is made or a new hypothesis takes form. And since we rarely get another diagram until we’re in a more advanced college class, many people think that if a theory is shown to be true time and time again, it has to graduate into a law, so if it didn’t, it must’ve been an educated hunch and nothing more. In reality, laws usually describe events or rules by which the natural world seems to work while theories try to explain and interpret large bodies of knowledge affecting several distinct disciplines. Evolution could never be a law because it describes processes that affect zoology, genetics and bio-chemistry as well as their numerous subsets. It doesn’t make the concept false. It’s just too complex to be properly expressed in an if-then format.
Pretty much everything we know about nature is a theory and yet, those theories usually don’t let us down. We don’t randomly go off floating into space even though gravity is just a theory. We never fail to age and time has never stopped for no discernable reason, even though the passage of time is also just a theoretical concept. When you come home and turn on your lights, the only reasons why your electrical devices won’t work is your forgetfulness when it comes to paying bills, a defective device or a power outage. And yes, electromagnetism is also just a theory. Finally, when you’re exposed to sick people, would you really be surprised that you’d also get sick because their germs hitched some sort of ride into your body? No? Well, if you think that theories are just random guesses of people in while lab coats, you should be. The idea behind how infectious disease is spread is known as germ theory. Remember that next time you want to use those five dismissive words.
One aspect that I think contributes to this problem is the sloppy usage of ‘theory’ in everyday language when ‘hypothesis’ should be used. For example, people will come up with some reason for something that has happened or is happening (and often something mundane) — and they’ll say “Well, my theory is that so-and-so said such-and-such, which caused blah blah … “.
This is an untested idea … it is a hypothesis.
So, when ‘theory’ is thrown around so willy-nilly like this in our popular vernacular, the true meaning of the word, as you’ve written about above, could be diminished. There is rarely a single-factor explanation for stuff like this, but I wonder if this aspect does contribute to the problems.
If so, the question then is if we can somehow get ‘hypothesis’ into our everyday speech to help define the distinction.
*applause*
I have nothing really to add to what you said. Just thanks for raising awareness of this issue!
Really love this post, it explains the problem with that ‘it’s just a theory’ attitude so well. I don’t have much to add except that I think, as the others do, that it comes down to being properly educated to use the correct words and understand the weight of words in context – something I think many people turn their nose up at, unfortunately. Thanks for the heads up, maybe I’ll be able to explain this better the next time!
About the use of “Theory” in science.
http://blogontheuniverse.org/about/drjeff-speaks-out/
and on the subject of math literacy read the opening of this http://bit.ly/Ks5dV
Jeff Goldstein
Center Director
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
The problem lies in the school system. At school, all you get taught is scientific “facts” and how to do experiments etc., but you are never taught about scientific methodology as a whole, and this I think, needs to change. I was never taught about the words: theory, falsifiability, Occam’s razor, models and predictions. I only learned them when I took it upon myself in my later education. This is the foundations of science and in becoming a scientist.