What good is science if it is always theories?

Question

What good is science if it is always theories?

Answer 1

Theory doesn't mean what you think it does.  Science language and everyday language are two different languages.  The word 'theory' in common language means the same thing as 'guess' but that's not what the word 'theory' means in scientific language.  The scientific word 'theory' best translates to 'fact' in normal everyday language.  The scientific word for a guess is 'hypothesis.'

Answer 2

Science has given us lots of things so it isn't all theories, unfortunately it is now politically driven and scientists will say just about anything to get their research grants.

Answer 3

everything is proven which means fact...

theory=fact

fact=truth

truth=real

so evolution=fact not theory...

Answer 4

There is the Law of Motion

Dalton's law of multiple proportions

Ohm's Law

Laws of Kepler

etc

Answer 5

The word "theory" in science does not mean "guess".

In fact, the closest translation would be "explanation".

Let me ask you - the criminal justice system depends on a criminal being proved guilty "beyond reasonable doubt". This means that the jury must be convinced that the accused did it, even though it is, of course, possible that he/she did not. Perhaps they have an "evil twin" that no-one knows about; or perhaps they were framed in a convincing manner. We can never be 100% certain, but we can be *so* certain, and we can think the other options are so unlikely as to not be worth considering.

It is still just the most plausible explanation, but we still send them convicted person to jail.

Well - science is like that. We can never be 100% certain that our current theory is correct. It is always possible that someone will perform an experiment tomorrow that disproves it. But that does not mean we should just ignore the theory as useless or as untrue.

Examples of things in science that are "just theories":

- the heliocentric model of the solar system (that the earth orbits the sun, and not the other way around)

- the atomic theory of matter

- the photon theory of light

- the cell theory for life

- the germ theory of disease

- the plate tectonic theory of geology.

All of these are "just theories", and they always will be. But they are so far well-supported, and they are also useful. So science keeps them, and uses them.

Answer 6

Most non-science people and even some science people are simply confused by the nomenclature.  A theory does not necessarily mean a "guess," as some anti-science types would have it.

A theory is an explanation for a physical phenomenon.  The ultimate goal, as exemplified by the scientific process, is to adequately explain things well enough to be able to predict all future behavior.  Thus, while many concepts are still called "theory," they've established themselves as being able to explain everything pertaining to the phenomenon being explained, hence, the Theory of General Relativity, while constantly being tested by various experiments, has met all challenges.  

Other theories, such as geocentric solar system  failed to explain things as well as the heliocentric solar system, and so was discarded.

Answer 7

The problem of somebody will be solved.