For this week’s
reflection I prepared by reading my ow blog post again and looking through my
notes form the lecture in order to refresh my memory in regards to what the
theme was about and what topics were important within the theme. Before the
seminar I felt that I had an impression about what theory means but I found it
hard to put my thoughts into words, something that I still find hard even after
the seminar. However, during the lecture we were asked to explain the term and
concept of theory as if speaking to a first year student. Below, I have
attempted to do this but also taking into consideration two other concepts
which we also focused on during the seminar; hypothesis and truth. This is also
a simple and concrete way collect my thoughts and what I know about the terms
which I also feel will help me in my road to understanding this week's theme.
One of the main
discussions during the seminar centered around what theory is and what the
difference is between theory and hypothesis. A theory is a combination of ideas,
statements and definitions intended to explain something. Another idea of what
theory is was provided by the lecture who said that “theory is what practice is
not”. The reason why we use theories is because we need a framework when
conducting research. A hypotheses is instead something that is testable and
when discussing what the word itself meant we talked about how it is a guess. We
also discussed the difference between scientific theory and philosophical
theory. We came to the conclusion that scientific theory is based on empirical
data while philosophical theory is based on an idea.
On a more
philosophical note, we also discussed how truth is relative and whether or not
it is possible to find the truth. We talked about how truths are tied to space
and time and gave the example of how people thought the earth was flat until it
was discovered that the earth was round. At a certain time, the truth was that
the earth was flat and the same goes for everything we today think are true as
well. Continuing this discussion we also talked about how it is only possible
to find “truth” through falsification. Instead of proving that something is
true, you try in different ways to prove something to be false. If you can’t
prove something to be false, then you have arrived at a relative truth.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts - I could definitely identify myself with them. I find your definition of theory really interesting since it sums up everything perfectly what we have discussed in class. Furthermore, I especially enjoyed your part about why we use theory. In Addition to this, we also mentioned Thomas S. Kuhn and his paradigm shift. Great Job!
ReplyDeleteHi Denise,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, a well written reflection! I think you explain what theory is in well chosen words so that the reader can understand what your are trying to say! I also find it interesting how truth is so strongly connected to theory and that there, in a sense, can't exist a completely true theory! It is just "seen as true" until proven false! And your example with the shape of the earth connects this relative truth with the term of "paradigm shifts" which we discussed in our seminar.
Hello, thanks for sharing us with your thoughts! Your reflection about the concept of theory are very neatly written and then impressive. This week's lecture and seminar were easier to understand, hence more interesting. I am glad that you have written reflection with such high quality. Good job!
ReplyDeleteHi Denise!
ReplyDeleteThank you for a interesting blog post with many good thoughts and reflections. I like your reflection of when you says that truth is actually tied to time and space, I haven't thought of it that way but I totally agree with you about it and that truth is relative. At our seminar we also discussed the paradigm shift which I think has a strong connection to your discussion. Keep up the good work!
As you wrote in your reflection it was (and still is) very hard to describe what a theory is in words. I always feel like I could write many pages about what theory is, but when I need to be concrete it is very hard to find the most suitable words for it. This is what makes me feel unsatisfied about discussing what theory is and what it is not. But I think the discussion of how theory and hypothesis differ but also are in a relation to each other helped me to improve my understanding of it. You did a very good job summarizing and explaining what theory is and how important it is to be careful when it comes to the term truth, which is never absolute. I like your last sentence about how we can just falsify something to find the relative truth about something and how we use that to proof is something is true or not.
ReplyDeleteI like how you say that we use theories as a framework for research, and your description of hypotheses is great.
ReplyDeleteWhat you say about truth and that it's relative is a really good summarisation of a big part of this week's theme, in my opinion. The greatest "leaps" forward in science has been when what was believed to be the "truth" was proven false and a new way forward was opened up.
Hi Denise!
ReplyDeleteAlways a pleasure to read your well developed and interesting blog posts. I think that you especially explain in a good and easy understandable way what theory is and what the difference is between theory and hypothesis. I agree with you analyse, well done!
/Paul
Inspired by your reflection I am wondering which truths we will be valid in a few years. I mean that now we take something for granted but in a few years maybe some of those things will be proved wrong. We depend are way of think on truths, and then those truths proved false, we have to change our way of thinking. We also talked about it in our seminar, but in terms of paradigm. Paradigm is a way of thinking and there are old and new paradigms. Paradigm shift happened when the old paradigm is replaced by a new one which leads also to change the way we think.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog post! I especially enjoyed reading the last part of your text, about how truth is relative. If I understood you correctly you say that just as we once thought earth was flat, today we might regard things as the truth that will one day maybe be regarded as silly as the earth being flat. Just as you say, truth is tied to time and space. I also believe that it is also tied to our limited perception of the world through our senses
Hi Denise,
ReplyDeleteI always like reading your blog, since it is always well-written and neatly organized. In this week's reflection, it is good to see that you share your thoughts on theory and hypothesis. This comparison is very helpful to understand the concept. Also I notice that you reached a conclusion about scientic and philosophical theory as 'scientific theory is based on empirical data while philosophical theory is based on an idea'. It is easy to understand what you mean in this sentence, but how about the scientific theory developed from humanities? Is it possible that some of them may also come from an idea? In addition to that, I particular like your another conclusion that 'truth is relative'. I agree a lot with you on this. Thanks for sharing and good job!
Hi, thank you for sharing your lecture notes and your thought in the reflection, it'a nice structured, and you highlight the kernel topic of this theme, the purpose of this theme is clear, which is talked about what is theory and what theory is not, and the difference is between theory and hypothesis. Through your reflection, I can see to summarize and conclude it very well, good job!
ReplyDelete