theory

Knowledge

2022

We explain what a theory is, its elements and types. Plus, scientific, systems, Big Bang theories and more.

A theory is a logical network of evidences, arguments and demonstrations.

What is a theory?

Surely we hear often that someone has a theory, that they came up with a theory or that they are not convinced by such or such theories. It is a common and colloquial use of the term, which does not always imply its true and fair meaning, but is often confused with another.

The word theory comes from the Greek voice theaomai, "Contemplate" or "look", linked to theoros, "Spectator", and theatron, "Place to see", where the term theater comes from. Already in ancient times this word was used in a figurative sense, to refer to a speculative, intellectual gaze, as a synonym for "seeing beyond the obvious" and it ended up being synonymous with lucidity and understanding.

Now, in a strict sense, theories are logical-deductive systems that serve as support for the Models scientists through which we interpret and explain objective reality. Which means that a theory is a series of laws that account for a certain phenomenon of the universe, and that normally involve three elements:

  • A set of hypothesis proven, which serve as a starting point;
  • A field of application, that is, the things that the theory explains;
  • A set of rules that allow the extraction of valid consequences from the hypotheses.

As will be seen, when we speak of a theory, especially in the field of Sciences, We are not talking about a speculation, or an occurrence or a possible explanation among many, but a true logical framework of evidence, arguments and proofs that constitute a unified system. Contrary to what its popular usage suggests, a theory is the closest one can scientifically get to the truth.

In a researchHowever, results other than those predicted by theory may be obtained (due to procedural failures, among other reasons), so a distinction is often made between theory and practice. Thus, one speaks of theoretical results to refer to those possible results, but which did not occur in reality. Obviously, we should not confuse them with the theory itself.

Types of theory

Broadly speaking, we can distinguish three types of theories, which are:

  • Descriptive, which identify and detail the features of one or more events or phenomena under study. They seek to create an objective model that reflects the actions of the nature.
  • Explanatory, covering two or more different phenomena to find the correlation between them and determine the fundamental laws that contain their relationship. They are those that try to build relationships of cause and effect.
  • Predictive, which from a cause and effect relationship already described and explained, are dedicated to induction, that is, to the extrapolation and projection of possible phenomena or unsuspected links between phenomena. They try to connect distant points in the matrix of the reality.

Scientific theories

Scientific theories are those that are proposed as a set of principles or explanations to account for an observed phenomenon. To do this, they are based on the description of observable phenomena and the linking of proven hypotheses, according to the principles of falsifiability and demonstrability proposed by the scientific method.

Put more easily, these are the theories that scientists have built, from immense volumes of information obtained from observation of reality, the registration and verification of different hypotheses, and finally the construction of a reasoning model that gives everything a verifiable meaning. Therefore, a scientific theory should never be confused with a hypothesis.

Scientific theories, as we said before, are the most refined and reliable form of knowledge than humanity has been able to build, through a rigorous method of checks, evaluations and experiments. But this does not mean that they are absolute or irrevocable explanations.

Since science is a field of knowledge in perpetual update, it is always possible that new, more complex theories will emerge to supplant the current ones, as humanity gains more and more knowledge about the universe, and has more and better instruments to support it. .

Systems theory

It is known as the Theory of Systems or the General Theory of Systems to a field of study that proposes the scientific approach of the systems in general, in order to deduce laws and principles that serve to describe reality, always understood, of course, as a set of systems.

A system is a portion of reality, endowed with concrete limits, that has interrelated and interdependent parts whose sum is always greater than the sum of its parts. That is, the modification of one element of the system affects the other parts, in such a way that it can be studied and predicted.

In this way, it can be thought of as a system at a Living being, to a climatic mechanism or practically any section of reality that can be abstracted from the environment and evaluated according to the aforementioned. Seen this way, the general laws of systems apply equally to all of them.

Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory holds that the universe began 13.8 billion years ago.

The Big Bang Theory is often called the most current and scientifically accepted cosmological model today, that is, the best supported set of scientific explanations that we have regarding the origin of the universe and its subsequent evolution.

Its name comes from English (Big Bang, “Big explosion”) and it is because, according to astronomical studies and the conclusions obtained from them, our universe was found 13.8 billion years ago totally concentrating in a single point.

At that moment, a mysterious event known as a singularity took place, thus giving rise to the entire matter, the space and the weather of the universe. Thus, a "great explosion" marked the beginning of time and the beginning of all things that exist.

The Big Bang Theory, strictly speaking, does not offer explanations about the way in which the universe began to exist, so much as evidence regarding its initial stages of development and the long process of changes that took place from that remote moment until today: the continuous expansion of space, the formation of matter, etc.

Lamarck's theory

Lamarckism or Lamarck's Theory of Evolution is the formulation that the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) made of the Theory of evolution at the beginning of the 19th century. Today this theory is considered obsolete, but at the time it was a revolutionary idea, since it contravened with scientific thinking to creationism prevailing in his time, even 50 years ahead of the British Charles Darwin.

Lamarck's vision ensured that the life It was not created, nor was it immutable, but came from simpler forms, which over time had changed to adapt to their respective environments, thus giving rise to the biological Diversity that we know today.

As evidence of this process, which according to Lamarck occurred gradually and imperceptibly, he cited the fossils known at the time, claiming that they were intermediate forms, halfway between the original and the definitive ones, that is, between the primal and evolved or adapted to the environment.

Lamarckism can be considered a precursor of the currently accepted Theories of Evolution, especially considering that at the time of their appearance few of today's paleontological findings were known, and biology was unaware of many of the secrets about the inheritance that today are common knowledge.

The theory of evolution

When we talk about the Theory of Evolution, as can be understood from the previous case, we are not really referring to a single one, but to a set of postulations, studies, theories and scientific formulations around the origin of life and to the reason of biological diversity. All of them, over time, converged into a single one, in force today, called Modern Evolutionary Synthesis.

The central postulate of evolutionism is that living beings were not created by supernatural entities, but that all life always comes from a previous life form.

Later, in a long chain of living beings dating from primitive times, some features were preserved and others eliminated. This occurred as the different species of living beings, over time, competed with their peers and with other species for access to food resources, living space and the right to reproduce.

Quickly summarized, the Theory of Evolution explains the competence inherent in all forms of life, in which some feed on others, and understand it as a "natural selection”Which favors the most suitable species, that is, better adapted to the environment and the rules of biological competition, over the less suitable.

The former, thus, reproduce abundantly, and the latter, on the other hand, become extinct, leaving with the passage of time only the suitable species, which will then be subjected to new pressures and a new selection, thus giving rise to new and new species over the millennia. In this way, genes more favorable are preserved from one species to another, while the less favorable are lost.

All life on Earth, therefore, is found in some branch of the immense family tree of species, in whose roots would be the last universal common ancestor (LUCA, for its acronym in English), a primordial species that, through By diversifying and adapting to its different competing environments, it gave rise to the different kingdoms of known life.

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