Side Trip to Wikipedia

eJournal: uffmm.org
ISSN 2567-6458, 17.August 2022 – 17 August 2022
Email: info@uffmm.org
Author: Gerd Doeben-Henisch
Email: gerd@doeben-henisch.de

CONTEXT

This text is part of the subject COMMON SCIENCE as Sustainable Applied Empirical Theory, besides ENGINEERING, in a SOCIETY. It is a preliminary version, which is intended to become part of a book.

Side Trip to Wikipedia

If one takes a side trip to different articles in the English Wikipedia then one will not find an article about ’empirical theory’ directly. Looking for the word ‘theory’ alone you can find an article talking about ‘rational thinking’ about ‘phenomena’, where the thinking can produce ‘assertions’, which can include ‘explanations’ how nature works. (cf. [3]) Further you are told that there are also ‘scientific theories’ which are based on ‘scientific methods’ fulfilling the ‘criteria of modern science’. ‘Scientific methods’ are using ‘scientific tests’. ‘Scientific theories are a form of ‘scientific knowledge’. ‘Testable empirical conjectures’ or ‘scientific laws’ are not yet ‘scientific theories’. (cf. [2]) Following the hint, that scientific methods’ are important for ‘scientific theories’, you can read some statements about a ‘scientific method’: it is an ’empirical method’ of ‘acquiring knowledge’. An ’empirical method’ uses ‘careful observations’ and creates — based on these observations — ‘hypotheses’ via ‘induction’. From these hypotheses one can draw ‘deductions’. Based on ‘experimental findings’ one can ‘refine’ or ‘eliminate’ hypotheses. These statements are called ‘principles of the scientific method’. (cf. [4c]). Additional it is explained, that the goal of an ‘experiment’ is to determine whether ‘observations’ do ‘agree’ with or ‘conflict’ with the ‘expectations’ ‘deduced’ from a ‘hypothesis’. Though the scientific method is often presented as a fixed sequence of steps, it represents rather a set of general principles.(cf. [4c]) These remarks point to the further concept of ‘science’, which is characterized as a ‘systematic enterprise’ that ‘builds’ and ‘organizes’ ‘knowledge’  in the form of ‘testable explanations’ and ‘testable predictions’ about the ‘universe’ . (cf. [2]) Contemporary scientific research is further characterized by working highly ‘collaborative’, which is usually done by ‘teams’. The practical impact of scientific work has led to the emergence of ‘science policies’ that seek to influence the scientific enterprise. (cf. [2])

What can we do with these ‘fragments’ of a large discourse around ‘science’, ‘theory’, and ‘knowledge’?

In the following figure I have arranged the detected words in some ‘order’ which seems to me to make ‘some sense’. But clearly, because we have at every moment nowhere an ‘overall ordering’ accepted by ‘all’, every individual ordering will suffer a final argument. We can ‘try’ to find some ‘hidden structures’ in the realm of ‘phenomena’, but whether these ‘suggested orderings’ are really helpful this can only show the ongoing process of life itself framed by our different views.


Figure: Hypothetical graphical interpretation of some Wikipedia articles associated with the concepts ‘science’ and ‘theory’

Here some aspects of my findings looking into the cited Wikipedia articles.

  1. Following some links starting with the question for ’empirical theory’ I could find several articles associated with ‘theory’ in some sense.
  2. Within every article it was not quite clear what really is the reining perspective of an article. If one assumes — as I do — that a Wikipedia article is not reproducing an individual scientific discipline as such but some ‘common view’ and thereby is representing a ‘meta level view’, it is difficult to define the ‘method of a meta level view’. Where should it come from? Nowhere we have today an official discipline for ‘meta level views’ (historically this should be philosophy, but philosophy today is far away from doing this job sufficiently well).
  3. On the other side: there exists a common view ‘by fact’ because all human actors together represent ‘implicitly’ a common view before and above every special knowledge by their pure existence. Taking the everyday language communication seriously there exists everyday an ongoing ‘common talk’ of ‘common experts’ about everything which happens as ‘everyday experience’.
  4. But not every talk represents knowledge which can be shared and thereby (i) enabling cooperation and (ii) enabling decidable forecasts. This is the minimum we need and it is the maximum we can get.
  5. Wikipedia today is somehow in the ‘direction’ by enabling a little bit cooperation, but it clearly not yet enables forecasts.
  6. Focusing on the subject of an ’empirical theory’ I arranged the different citations of the Wikipedia articles around the main concept of ‘science’. This concept is associate with many additional concepts which — if arranged — are pointing slightly to different ‘views’ which I loosely classified as ‘history’, ‘society’, and ‘philosophy/ philosophy of science’. If one would set ‘philosophy’ as the main view then ‘sociology’ and ‘history’ are contributing special views as part of the ‘meta level view’. One can ask, whether there are other views available, which also have some importance.
  7. Within that what I identified as the ‘philosophical view’ one is associating ‘science’ with special kinds of ‘methods’, which allow ‘observations’ which in one direction can enable ‘hypotheses’ about the ‘phenomena’ in ‘observations’, and in another direction allow ‘deductions’ from these hypotheses, which then can be ‘tested’ with the aid of ‘experiments’. The ‘findings’ of an experiment can ‘confirm’ or ‘weaken’ a hypothesis. Because the hypotheses have the format of ‘language expressions’, which can be used as ‘assertions’, they can be understood by the experimenters as ‘explanations’ which can further be understood as ‘knowledge in a scientific format’.
  8. In the whole of these citations it is not really clear what is in fact a ‘theory’. The word ‘theory’ is used in these articles but there exists nevertheless no real definition. To speak about ‘scientific’ theories instead of the word ‘theory’ alone points to the explanations about ‘scientific methods’ which are explained by the ’empirical method’. But it stays open what then a ‘theory is’.
  9. From the point of view of philosophy (and by inspecting some more references) there are two approaches for a characterization of a ‘theory’:
  10. THEORY CONCEPT I: Looking primarily to the used language expressions only then a theory needs (i) those expressions which represent the hypotheses; (ii) a logical inference concept enabling inferences (deductions); (iii) the inferred inferences as candidates for forecasts; (iv) an experimental procedure to test whether one can find measurements which ‘confirm’ or ‘weaken’ a forecast.
  11. THEORY CONCEPT II: Looking in a wider context to the ‘theory producers’, their ‘environment’, and then to the ‘procedure’, how the theory producers really ‘built’ a ‘theory concept I’.
  12. Usually ‘theory concept I’ is applied, not ‘theory concept II’. But at that moment where one starts to analyze science and theories from a real meta level point of view one needs ‘theory concept II’. All known problems about theories and theory production can be discussed within ‘theory concept II’, but not with ‘theory concept I’.
  13. Although the word ’empirical theory’ is not found — yet — in Wikipedia articles, it makes sense to use this concept, because we have ‘theories’ also in logic and mathematics, but without a relationship to some empirical reality. Thus the expression ’empirical theory’ states from the ‘first outlook’ that it is a theory with a relationship to empirical reality.
  14. As one can see by reading this text as a whole I am using one more attribute named ‘sustainable’. Thus a ‘sustainable empirical theory’ (SET) is an empirical theory which fulfills even more requirements which then directly leads to the concept of a ‘common theory’.

—- draft version —

COMMENTS

[2] Science, see e.g. wkp-en: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science

Citation = “Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.[1][2]

Citation = “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,[1] 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).[2] 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.”

Citation = “New knowledge in science is advanced by research from scientists who are motivated by curiosity about the world and a desire to solve problems.[27][28] Contemporary scientific research is highly collaborative and is usually done by teams in academic and research institutions,[29] government agencies, and companies.[30][31] The practical impact of their work has led to the emergence of science policies that seek to influence the scientific enterprise by prioritizing the ethical and moral development of commercial productsarmamentshealth carepublic infrastructure, and environmental protection.”

[2b] History of science in wkp-en: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science#Scientific_Revolution_and_birth_of_New_Science

[3] Theory, see wkp-en: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory#:~:text=A%20theory%20is%20a%20rational,or%20no%20discipline%20at%20all.

Citation = “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.”

[4] Scientific theory, see: wkp-en: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory

Citation = “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,[1] 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).[2] 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.”

[4b] Empiricism in wkp-en: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism

[4c] Scientific method in wkp-en: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method

Citation =”The scientific method is an empirical method of acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century (with notable practitioners in previous centuries). It involves careful observation, applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation. It involves formulating hypotheses, via induction, based on such observations; experimental and measurement-based statistical testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses; and refinement (or elimination) of the hypotheses based on the experimental findings. These are principles of the scientific method, as distinguished from a definitive series of steps applicable to all scientific enterprises.[1][2][3] [4c]

and

Citation = “The purpose of an experiment is to determine whether observations[A][a][b] agree with or conflict with the expectations deduced from a hypothesis.[6]: Book I, [6.54] pp.372, 408 [b] Experiments can take place anywhere from a garage to a remote mountaintop to CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. There are difficulties in a formulaic statement of method, however. Though the scientific method is often presented as a fixed sequence of steps, it represents rather a set of general principles.[7] Not all steps take place in every scientific inquiry (nor to the same degree), and they are not always in the same order.[8][9]