(August 7, 2019 at 12:31 pm)John 6IX Breezy Wrote:(August 7, 2019 at 12:08 pm)Grandizer Wrote: No, you don't demote theories that turn out t be wrong to hypotheses ... because theories are not a matter of improved hypotheses. Hypotheses are in their own categories from theories. Theories are well-established explanations (scientifically speaking) that explain the phenomenon observed in nature, they are often based on (or strengthened by) the results of hypotheses that have passed but it's not as simple as being just an accumulation of hypotheses that passed. It does have to explain adequately the overall picture of the phenomenon under observation, and it has to be well-established scientifically. And a theory still has to have predictive power and be testable and good at passing the tests.
Space pixies theory isn't anything like that. It's only a "theory" in the colloquial sense.
Right, so we agree on the distinction between theory and hypotheses. The only thing I would disagree with you on, is that theories don't need to be well-established, in the sense that there is evidence for them. That's demonstrated by your acknowledgement that you don't demote theories if they turn out to be wrong. A theory can be completely an utterly false, and it remains a scientific theory.
You still think a theory is no different from a hypothesis ...
You have the wrong idea of what a theory is. You really do.
