Theory
A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be scientific, belong to a non-scientific discipline, or no discipline at all. Depending on the context, a theory's assertions might, for example, include generalized explanations of how nature works. The word has its roots in ancient Greek, but in modern use it has taken on several related meanings.
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- enA theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be scientific, belong to a non-scientific discipline, or no discipline at all. Depending on the context, a theory's assertions might, for example, include generalized explanations of how nature works. The word has its roots in ancient Greek, but in modern use it has taken on several related meanings.
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- enA theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may be scientific, belong to a non-scientific discipline, or no discipline at all. Depending on the context, a theory's assertions might, for example, include generalized explanations of how nature works. The word has its roots in ancient Greek, but in modern use it has taken on several related meanings. In modern science, the term "theory" refers to scientific theories, a well-confirmed type of explanation of nature, made in a way consistent with the scientific method, and fulfilling the criteria required by modern science. Such theories are described in such a way that scientific tests should be able to provide empirical support for it, or empirical contradiction ("falsify") of it. Scientific theories are the most reliable, rigorous, and comprehensive form of scientific knowledge, in contrast to more common uses of the word "theory" that imply that something is unproven or speculative (which in formal terms is better characterized by the word hypothesis). Scientific theories are distinguished from hypotheses, which are individual empirically testable conjectures, and from scientific laws, which are descriptive accounts of the way nature behaves under certain conditions. Theories guide the enterprise of finding facts rather than of reaching goals, and are neutral concerning alternatives among values. A theory can be a body of knowledge, which may or may not be associated with particular explanatory models. To theorize is to develop this body of knowledge. The word theory or "in theory" is sometimes used erroneously by people to explain something which they individually did not experience or test before. In those instances, semantically, it is being substituted for another concept, a hypothesis. Instead of using the word "hypothetically", it is replaced by a phrase: "in theory". In some instances the theory's credibility could be contested by calling it "just a theory" (implying that the idea has not even been tested). Hence, that word "theory" is very often contrasted to "practice" (from Greek praxis, πρᾶξις) a Greek term for doing, which is opposed to theory. A "classical example" of the distinction between "theoretical" and "practical" uses the discipline of medicine: medical theory involves trying to understand the causes and nature of health and sickness, while the practical side of medicine is trying to make people healthy. These two things are related but can be independent, because it is possible to research health and sickness without curing specific patients, and it is possible to cure a patient without knowing how the cure worked.
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- enTheory
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- www.academia.edu/1642214
- science.kennesaw.edu/~rmatson/3380theory.html
- undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/howscienceworks_20
- www.degruyter.com/view/j/hssr.2015.4.issue-2/hssr-2015-0014/hssr-2015-0014.xml
- zcomm.org/wp-content/uploads/zinstructionals/htdocs/RTInstruc/id6.htm
- web.archive.org/web/20140912175614/http:/www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text%3Fdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0251:text=Praec.:section=1&highlight=medical%2Ctheory
- www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text%3Fdoc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0251:text=Praec.:section=1&highlight=medical%2Ctheory
- www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text%3Fdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0052%3Abook%3D11%3Asection%3D1064a
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- Abstraction
- Acoustic theory
- Aesthetics
- A Greek–English Lexicon
- Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
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- Ancient Greek
- Ancient Greek philosophy
- Antenna theory
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- Approximation theory
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- Asymptotic theory
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- Big Bang
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- Brønsted–Lowry acid–base theory
- Caloric fluid
- Carneiro's circumscription theory
- Case theory (in law)
- Catastrophe theory
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- Category theory
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- Cell theory
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- Choquet theory
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- Classical electromagnetism
- Classical Greece
- Classical mechanics
- Climate variability and change
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- Coding theory
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- Color theory
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- Composition (visual arts)
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- Computational complexity theory
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- Copernican heliocentrism
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- Crystal field theory
- Debye–Hückel theory
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- Dirac hole theory
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- Extreme value theory
- F. M. Cornford
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- Field theory (mathematics)
- Film theory
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- Formal language
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- Frontier molecular orbital theory
- Galois theory
- Game theory
- Gauge symmetry
- Geocentric model
- Geometry
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- Global warming
- Gödel's incompleteness theorem
- Government and Binding
- Graph theory
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- Greek language
- Group theory
- Hippocrates
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- Homology theory
- Homotopy theory
- HSAB theory
- Hubble's law
- Human impact on the environment
- Humanities
- Hypothesis
- Hypothesis testing
- Idea
- Ideal theory
- Incrementalism
- Information theory
- Interdisciplinarity
- Interpretation (logic)
- Intersection theory
- Invariant theory
- Iwasawa theory
- Jurisprudence
- Karl Popper
- Kepler's laws of planetary motion
- Kinetic theory of gases
- KK-theory
- Knot theory
- Knowledge transfer
- K-theory
- Landau theory
- Legal positivism
- Legal realism
- Lewis theory
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- Linguistics
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- Littlewood–Paley theory
- Logic
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- Loop quantum gravity
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- Marcus theory
- Mathematical logic
- Matrix (mathematics)
- Maxwell's equations
- Measure theory
- Medical theory
- Metaphysics (Aristotle)
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- Microeconomic theory
- Model theory
- Modern science
- Molecular orbital theory
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- Morse theory
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- Multiple intelligence theory
- Multiverse theory
- Music theory
- Møller–Plesset perturbation theory
- Natural language
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- Nature
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- Nevanlinna theory
- Normative ethics
- Number theory
- Object permanence
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- Observational study
- Obsolete scientific theories
- Obstruction theory
- Ontology
- Operator theory
- Organizational theory
- Orphics
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- Perturbation theory
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- Phenomenon
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- Plate tectonics
- Plato
- Polyhedral skeletal electron pair theory
- Polymer field theory
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- Poverty of stimulus
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- Prediction
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- Progressive education theory
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- Psychology
- Public Administration
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- Pythagoras
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- Quantum field theory
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- Ramsey theory
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- Signal theory
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- Specific ion interaction theory
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- Statement (logic)
- Stockholm syndrome
- String theory
- Sturm–Liouville theory
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- Supply and demand
- Syntax (logic)
- Systems theory
- Testability
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- Theatre
- Theodore Schick
- Theorem
- Theoretical definition
- Theoria
- Theory of justification
- Theory of mind
- Theory of relativity
- Thermodynamic theory of polymer elasticity
- Transition state theory
- Truth
- Twistor theory
- Type theory
- Understanding
- United States National Academy of Sciences
- Universal grammar
- Valence bond theory
- Value theory
- Variational transition-state theory
- Virtue theory
- Visual perception
- Wiktionary:praxis
- X-bar theory
- Zero-based budgeting
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- Category:Abstraction
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- Category:Theories
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